Worlds 1: A Beginning
by thewritinggoddess
Summary: The classic tale of a girl who falls into Hyrule. But is it the classic story of Twilight? Maizy enters this world, confused and flustered, her only goal is to venture with Link to find any way home. When this way home is shrouded by an inconsistency in what the story is meant to be, she finds herself changed. A power that is not her own possesses her, and the Vinderendetta appear.
1. Tripping

**It's been awhile. I deleted the original version of this, probably because I'm an idiot. But I just had to come back to it, so I edited the first chapter. Will this continue? I hope to edit and finally write out the end to be able to continue this on like the series it was supposed to be. Who knows, outlook not fantastic fyi.**

 **Please enjoy.**

* * *

A world of hollow beings had always filled the fictional worlds of my books. They smiled, they wept, yet in the end they didn't exist, and they weren't meant to. I believed in different universes, but I often used it to imagine the endless possibilities of a conversation and not the endless troubles it could put me in with just one snap of its all knowing fingers.

The air was sweet with the taste of a new beginning bringing with it wafts of summer aroma. This back deck had been my place of peace, and reading. My eyes darted upward to the clear sky, then down, into the vibrant green of the forest licking my backyard like waves into a shoreline. I placed my book on the cushion of the chair where I had rested my feet and pushed up onto my toes from the fake wicker couch. Out there, between trunks of bark, was a flicker of blue distracting the elegant bending of branches.

It had been appearing on and off all the while I was out there that short day. Every few pages turns it would steal my gaze, calling for me, before fading without my response. Another crack split through the forest cover, striking with a fast glimmer. This time, however, I saw where it began from.

With a kick in my step I plopped back onto my heels, swept my book off the couch, turned back, and wrestled my screen door open. Not one eeking emotion dared speak about my neglect of the sandals left on the wooden panels, and not one of them shook their heads about my sudden approach for the door. Except for one.

My pinky toe jammed into the small step up onto the frame of the door. I hadn't even aimed for it to be there. With a solemn groan, I lifted my foot to check for blood and when there wasn't any, I slid back up straight. Right at my face stared back myself, transparent in the reflection of a glass sliding door. Above my shoulder it crackled again, but this time with more luster.

Unkempt hair had swung around with the spin of my body and head, tangled from having not been brushed that morning. Had I regretted anything, it wasn't that, it wasn't even the athletic shorts that had cursed me with burns, nor was it not wearing shoes as I gently walked down the steps of the deck and headed for the woods. It was the fact I had left my glasses on.

The light had remained shifting and turning, only blinking at me, as I made my way across the yard. With every step, tension began to build up in my muscles. I had still been persuading myself to believe the statement that rung in my head, that I wouldn't cross the edge of the forest. Deep down I knew, I wouldn't stop, there was something in there and it was pulling me forward.

A leaf crunched, I wiped pine needles off my heel, twigs dared me to press further so they could taste my blood, I moved slowly but I didn't stop. Once the trunks had enveloped me, the blue light had decided to subside. It hid behind the endless trees, flickering, sometimes completely shrouded, other times split between branches. For a split second I wondered, under this canopy of leaves and surrounded by underbrush, I wondered if anyone would be able to hear me scream.

The light grew wider, and dimmer, until I saw it, blocked down the middle by a tree trunk. It was close enough that it could no longer hide behind the underbrush anymore. My running halted, only briefly as I caught my breath, stepped aside the trunk, and jogged up to it. It was an oval, as tall as a mirror, smooth like a disk, a swirling blue, like an encased, flowing liquid. It glowed.

My hand reached out gently for its surface, but when my feet didn't move to bring it all the way, I froze. It took the sound of crunching leaves for me to recoil, to turn around, to go, but the moment I shifted my weight onto my front foot, something unseen collided into me. I landed on a branch, a snap throwing itself up into the crisp air, my book flying from my hand. For awhile I just stared there, at the trees, at the peaks of blue sky. It was a painting, a painting I wouldn't see again for quite some time after I got up again, and faced the blue light once more.

In my chest, I was quivering, even as I was able to will myself to reach out my hand once more. Everything shook violently, refusing to do as I knew I was being told. As my last step brought my hand to the smooth surface, an intense chill jolted down my arm and into my whole being. I didn't see anything that followed, my vision had snapped to a blur, but something grabbed my arm. In the last blurred rays of light filtering into my eyes I only felt a hand wrench me forward before I was swallowed by blue, then nothing but black.

There was a taste of death on my lips until all slipped and was gone.

* * *

A blinding light filtered onto my pupils. What followed was a sharp pain that struck my chest before it began to race through my veins. My stomach lurched and the following fit of coughing didn't do much to help it. Lapping over my legs and hands was water, shallow, soothing. When my coughing didn't stop I fell into it.

The movement of blood in my body was tangible as everything overlapped and curled into each other, my limbs tingling like they'd just woken up after a deep sleep. A war was going on between my senses. Yet, coughing diminishing, I finally found the sharper edges of the painting drawn before me. I was in a shallow spring, water of a crystal blue hue, sand almost white. The light drew out a deeper headache from my skull.

In the midst of panic, I sent all my strength to my legs, but even that was no use, I stumbled back into the water. There I would stay.

No matter how long I waited, the numb sensation in my legs didn't go away, and no matter the number of attempts, I couldn't stand. Another attempt brought more pins and needles that jabbed themselves into my feet all the way up to my thighs. I found myself back in the water, my own two legs had given out from underneath me.

It was only then that my breath started to shiver and topple in and out of my lungs. Faster every second. Around me I saw nothing but the spring as I was blocked in by a round of small cliffs that yanked out any hope I felt from my body. Over, far enough away, I saw the opening and I heard something. Above the white noise of cascading water, like the footsteps of two people, running in close sync.

I sat up, eyes fallen into the trees just beyond the only gateway. If someone was coming, they'd come by there, I knew. In my heart was a spike of adrenaline, and from my chest arose a scream, a plea of, "Help!"

I heard the pounding grow louder and I repeated myself, trying to match its crescendo. Though, each shout died off, quieter than the last. My crying had arisen from a quiet place and it remained diminutive. It was not as hard as shouting but it didn't cease to end like every word that had punctuated the air.

Out here was warm, just like the Summer's day I had left, but it was thick and it was raucous and it wasn't anywhere I'd been before. Nowhere I'd seen before. That's what I perceived.

Past the opening of the clearing rushed past a figure. That was the loudest the footsteps had gotten before they disappeared completely behind the veil of a horse's grunt. The wind suspended itself, dropping all noise with it. Nothing but a softened, fuzzy impression of reality remained in my brain, sharpened by nothing. I wanted to sleep.

From the corner of a gate emerged a young man. His posture was nearly regal, he walked as if he carried a cape in tow, and watched me as if I was a beggar. He weighed coins in his hands as I wiped off tears. The decision made itself rather quickly, and he tossed me gold, "Were you the one calling for help?"

I searched for my voice after his, entranced by the tamber, that of a breeze flowing through a forest. It's ring caught me in a familiarity, the more I looked around, the more the man before me formed something I'd seen before. I found no words to say at all as tears punched at my eyes once again.

From the shore, the young man called out once more, "Hey, are you okay?"

"I-" my lips shut themselves when he took a step forward, a brown boot disturbing the water. In his widened gaze I found a pair of blue eyes, two crystals that glimmered in the sunlight. From long, pointed ears dangled earrings, small loops the same color as the sky. In these features alone I could find a world, a world I knew very well, "I can't feel my legs," my head grew light and I nearly fainted into sobs.

"Do you want me to help you up?" he asked, concern washing over his face.

I took a deep breath, croaking, "Yes."

The young man who I was only a stranger to stepped towards me and reached down for my arms. Even through his best efforts to hold me upright, I found no good enough hold in the sand to keep myself on my feet. Before I could tumble back into the water below, he'd caught me in a suffocating embrace.

"Can you walk at all?"

I restrained myself from wiping my nose on his green tunic before moving my face sideways so I could see the spring, "No…"

He sighed and I felt his breath cold against the top of my head, "I could carry you." he paused, "If you're comfortable with that."

His chest rose up and down. I tried to make mine go to the same rhythm, but my lungs quivered far too much. And I got no break as my heart resounded in my ears, calling out every familiar thing in view until I could come to terms with it all. Until I could believe it. I had seen it all before, but I didn't dare say from where. Not until I asked a question and heard its reply loud and clear. "Who are you?"

"Link," he replied softly.

The world tripped over itself and slammed me down into the ground. I could hear the names of people and places laughing at me as if they were a part of the childish game they came from once again. They sat vivid on my tongue, lucid in the trees. Hyrule had consumed my feet in its waters and filled my lungs with its humid air.

Memories of sitting on the couch in a bored delusion of nostalgia had surged back to me and briefly I watched myself play Legend of Zelda, when I thought nothing about if the place my hands guided the character of Link through was real, somewhere. Each game flicked by, and my absent eyes mingled finally on an image of Twilight before I was prodded away.

"Are you okay?" Link tried to drag my body up further to see my face, but I didn't cooperate and slid back down, "I don't have a lot of time, we need to get going. I'm sorry."

I found the air still once more, daring me to shake it, and I did. For once, the air bent to my will, and it talked for me. "Okay…" In a single moment I had my hands clasped at the back of his neck, and I felt weightless in his arms.

He walked out of the spring and onto a dirt road that lead through a forest. I could make out a clearing just up ahead, past a tall horse only a few paces away. She was a rusty red with a white mane. I bit my lip at the sight, preventing further shock from coursing through my brain.

As we passed her, Link whistled sharply and nodded his head forward. She began following.

As if all of this was an orchestrated normality, he began talking to me, casually, but never looking down. "Where are you from?"

I scowled at his hair now, marveling at how dirty blonde and high definition it was while trying to decide whether to tell the truth or not. "Massachusetts…"

He raised an eyebrow, "Where's that…?"

I took a deep breath of the forest air, finding myself content with its smell and the newfound coolness its canopy of leaves gave in its shadow, "I think it's far away."

"From Hyrule?"

The light of the clearing I'd seen from far away met my eyes and my calm demeanor dropped at the sight of Link's house. "Yeah..." I fell silent. My body meditated there, peaceful for just enough time before I felt like crying again.

"What's your name?" he inquired, softly looking down at me like I was a doll. All I could do to see him was squint.

"Maizy."

He narrowed his eyes as he stopped walking, "Maizy, huh...that's pretty."

"I guess…" I murmured.

"But uh-" he looked back up, widening his eyes, and getting back to his business. I was left leaning against the massive tree trunk that was his inherent house while he settled his horse into place and went to go grab something from inside. Ahead of the clearing was a small rise in land, haphazardly shoveled to level ground to create a pathway into what I could tell was a small grouping of houses.

Halfway through sitting there and contemplating, my legs regained feeling. I was picking at the grass, wondering about my family and where they thought I was, where I actually might be, when they returned. It had felt like blood had cascaded down them, smacking rocks as they fell. It was painful and they remained sore afterward, but I could move them. Rather than just stand, I remained glued to my place, deciding whether to lie or not once Link would come out.

"You alright?" he'd said as he shut the door.

"Yeah."

Link dropped down from the ladder that lead up to his doorway and kneeled down beside me. "You sure?"

I nodded.

"Okay. Well, there's a mayor in Ordon who can help you out if you just need a place to rest or anything.." He looked at me oddly for a moment, "But...if you need my help, I could figure something else out."

"Yeah...yeah, I'll think about it. Sounds uh...G." I muttered just loud enough. Although it probably confused him to no end, he smirked as he lifted me off my able feet and headed toward town.

As he strolled on I tore my eyes away from his face and watched as something entirely old became something new. In Ordon there were only a few colorful houses, all of odd shapes and containing odd people. With the sun it was impossibly warm and homely. I could smell the pumpkins that grew across the area in small patches. Although no person graced my sight while I watched, I could find the love of the people as it laced the atmosphere and suffocated me.

Past a small stream sat a house with a waterwheel. I felt its familiar hand grasp me, but it's skin had gained more color since the last time. Behind the house itself was acres of crops, mostly pumpkin patches, yet it was the largest part of the town.

"Do you live here?"

"Yeah." We crossed the stream as he headed toward this large house surrounded by fencing. Beyond it led towards another set of risen cliffs. There was an opened pathway that came up like a ramp with an arch that bore a sign. Though I could not read Hylian, I knew that was the way to the ranch.

"It's nice."

Where there would have been a gate was nothing, and Link entered the yard of the large house. He stepped up onto the porch, as if visiting an old friend, and attempted his best knock on the door with his hand that was underneath my knees.

After a moment a portly man answered the door, saving me the grace of having to sit in silence with Link. The man looked happy, briefly, before concern took over and he plagued us with an onslaught of questions. Particularly asking of Link, and not me.

"Calm down, Bo, I'll explain everything, I just need a favor first." He gave a reassuring smile. Between all the awkward circumstances, I was surprised at how convincing it was.

"I'm sorry, the town has been in a panic." Bo waved us inside, sniffling slightly and moving the horns jutting out of his cheeks up and down. "What do you need?"

The foyer was cozy with a couple chairs and bookcases near a fireplace. Ahead was a closed pair of doors, to the right was a stairwell, and to the left was an open bedroom.

"I found this girl at the spring. She says she's far away from home and can't feel her legs. All she needs is a place to stay until she gets better." Link glanced at something, "I know you have a room."

The mayor nodded solemnly, gesturing toward the open door, "She can stay for now."

"It won't be long, I'm sure." Link twisted his lips, "But um, I just need to talk in private for a moment, then I'll be right out." there was a pause, "Nothing to worry about."

Bo nodded and went to go sit in one of the chairs. Meanwhile, Link carried me into the abandoned room. Inside was simply a bed, a dresser, and a mirror. A window on the wall was covered in elegant green curtains that matched the sheets on the bed. An awfully feminine sense of design somehow shrouded the room in gloom. Link seemed uncomfortable looking at it.

He let me go onto my feet and, pretending I had no balance, I plopped into the bed, heels firmly pressed against the wood. I was still partially soaked in water and I shivered, but there was nothing that could warm me.

"I need to know what happened." Link stood over me, intimidatingly.

I found it hard to form words all of a sudden. "I don't know, I was walking through the forest, I saw a blue light, and I touched it." I shrugged, "Next thing I know I wake up and my legs-"

"Was the light black and blue?"

"No, just blue." I cracked my thumbs, tapping each of my fingers against my knees. After staring at my hands I lifted my eyes back up.

"You've never been here?" Link stared me straight in the eyes. It was surreal, like we were grasping a hold on each other's existence. I didn't tear away from it.

I chose my words carefully, "I've...seen...this 'place' before."

"In what way? Books? Have you read about us, have you visited Ordon?" His eyebrows were drawn together.

I shook my head, "I-I know about this place. I've been...to Hyrule."

A deep breath filled him. In a second he broke our eye contact and was looking at the door. "We can discuss more later." He watched me as I pulled a leg up to the bed and hugged it, "Your legs feeling better?"

My face instantly lost color boring holes into the flow with my gaze, "Uh...Uh, yeah."

"Um...good." He turned away quickly, but I dropped my foot like the dead weight it used to be and called out to him.

"Link, wait!" I could tell he found me crazy, and maybe it was best if I lost him so I wouldn't have to endure the dangers of his world. But I knew, whatever had brought me here didn't bring me here to lounge around. My way home was on a different path, and whether it intertwined with Link's, I wouldn't know unless I tried.

His foot stuck itself in a spot where water had dripped off from my hair, his gaze fluttered back to me for one more second.

I hesitated there, but I found my mouth somehow, and I made it speak, "Do you...do you know what Twilight is?"

I could see the recognition flash in his eyes and I held onto it, "The time of day when two worlds become one."

There was a bounce in his step as he left the room, equipment clinking together on his back. I watched his shield disappear behind the door.

In the moments that followed I recollected the past hour. With each memory triggered a new influx of tears. I cried for my family, for food, for warmth. My glasses became smudged and soon enough I took them off. When I placed them down, my eye caught on the mirror. It was angled so I only saw my legs, but as I stood up, my body filled its full view.

My hair was a mess, not only wet, but knotted all over from having not been brushed. I checked around the room for a brush and on the dresser sat a dusty one, painted a glassy green. It was stuck with wooden pick that looked dangerous to put through my hair. Nonetheless I began the process of painfully smoothing out all the knots until I was satisfied with myself. However, nothing kept my eyes away from my shorts and t-shirt. They lingered, wondering what I could possibly do to change them so I wouldn't stand out. But in the end I couldn't bring myself to think of getting rid of them.

They reminded me of home already.

I instead began to fascinate myself with my acne that wove itself between a sea of freckles. Around my green eyes was a deep flushed red from my crying. The familiar puffy look only brought me further into gloom. After that I just threw myself onto the bed, shut my eyes, and nearly fell asleep as I waited there for Link.

Soon enough the thoughts that he wouldn't come back for me came rushing in, but then I heard his voice followed by laughter. It took a lot out of my tired head, but I managed to sit up and listened carefully as their voices grew louder, then passed by my door. I heard thank you's, then I heard a goodbye before the room outside my door fell silent. The front door creaked open, then slowly, it shut.

My breath left me, my legs carried me onto my feet, and I nearly sprinted towards the bedroom door before it swung open. Link hovered in the doorway, staring at me. Neither of us spoke.

With tension in his movements, he shut the door. It was like he was thawing, moving slowly, staring at the floor, then finally, he exhaled, and looked at me, "You brushed your hair."

I brought my arms up to my chest, wrapping my hands together, "Uh, yeah I did."

"You can stand now?"

"Ever since you put me on the ground in front of your house." I clenched my teeth, "I was afraid to tell you. For some reason." The soreness in my legs weighed on me in that moment, but I didn't quiver. "I'm sorry."

Link sighed, "It's okay..."

"About earlier…" I took a deep breath, "In Massachusetts, your world is a work of fiction. And I've uh...read it all before. I know this story."

Link scowled at me, "And what is this story?"

I took a step back, "The story of twilight, the story of a wolf and an imp named Midna," my words resounded like poetry in my ears. He began tapping his toes into the floor. There were no words to say, they'd all been taken from him. "I came here like how I explained earlier and I don't know how to get home. Me knowing your future must be of help, so in exchange of me-"

"It's fine, you can tag along." His eyes were dull and exhausted as he glared at me.

"Wha-but...Don't you find me the least bit suspicious?!" My voice raised itself with my eyebrow, but he didn't reconsider his decision, seemingly in spite of my confusion.

He shrugged, "I probably should, you're right." The sun cast streaks on his boots as they stepped away towards the door. "For some reason I trust you, though." In the wake of these words, we left.

On the way back through town he explained that we were headed to Death Mountain and that I was to stay as out of the way as possible at all times until I could fend for myself. The sense that I was in over my head submerged me, but nonetheless I kept walking. Something in my chest lead me forward.

Like someone's voice was speaking to me inside my own head.


	2. Falling

**ATTENTION: PLEASE READ BEFORE CONTINUING!**

 **I'd just like to mention I changed the very end of the last chapter to mellow Link's attitude cause it got me stuck, I wasn't able to write anymore. It should be the very last few lines.**

 **However, if you just read the last chapter and are continuing on from there, welcome! You don't know what the original was but it ended with a sort of salty boi.**

 **Either way you came, you made it to the second chapter so thank you! It took me awhile because finals got in the way and like I said above I got absolutely stuck. But luckily I was able to finally get it out and overall I like how it turned out. So hopefully you**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(Also, thanks to all the people who followed and favorited, and I was very surprised to see a previous viewer come back and review as well, I really appreciate it.)**

* * *

His house seemed different to me now. Rather than residing in a dreamlike state, it was real. When I reached out to touch the ladder, Link gave me an odd look from the other side of his horse.

I retracted my hand before he could question me.

We'd been procrastinating actually setting out by not talking to each other. Instead we meandered around, aimlessly finding the footholds for each next step. Maybe it was that I wasn't prepared, neither mentally nor physically, for any fight we'd face, and thus he was lost in thought at what to do with me. However, Link had assured that I wouldn't have to fight anything for awhile. All that chatter about what I could do and what we needed all faded into a thick anxiety. It wrapped the grass around my toes and didn't let me move.

But Link pressed his horse towards me, hiding behind a shroud of silence that covered any emotion. "Ready?" he asked. It was simple and plain.

As I took my gaze off of the ladder I stared up at the horse, Epona. Her mane was a snowy white that was dirtied by battle and the reflection of her red coat. Although I reached almost eye level to her, she remained above me, looking down. Link appeared beside her, holding onto her reigns.

"What's wrong? Haven't you ever seen a horse before?" he tilted his head at me.

Epona bobbed her snout up and down and Link's answer displayed itself then when I immediately jumped back like she was going to charge at me. I guess the expression on my face was priceless as well because a laugh drained out of his mouth, slow and quiet, growing louder just like the steps that had brought him to finding me.

"No, I haven't." I sighed deeply, calming my heart to stop beating so hard as he consoled his own laughter for a few moments.

An occasional chuckle still escaped the longer he watched my dismal frown, but he managed to stay composed enough to finally speak. "Alright," he started, "alright…I'll help you out." He lifted himself into the saddle and pointed down at a loop where his foot had been, "Put your foot in the stirrup, I'll pull you up, and once you're high enough just swing your other leg over."

"Impossible, no." I crossed my arms, trying to mask my nerves with some stubborn resolve.

"Come on, I don't have all day." he complained, then sarcastically added, "Adventure awaits."

"Adventure," I mused quietly. The adventure had already happened, that being coming here, that was it, I wasn't brave enough to face another. I was barely brave enough to look up in time to see Link had outstretched his hand to me, patiently watching as I thought to only myself and didn't speak.

On top of the saddle he was almost intimidating, yet he reached for me and through him something in me melted slowly. Gingerly, I saw my own hand leave my side to greet his. He held on tightly. A deep breath eliminated the buzz clouding my ability to move, and I moved, reluctantly. My legs cried heavily as I put my foot up into the stirrup, pain shooting up to my thighs.

I sunk back down quickly, "Ow."

"You can do it."

I tried again, ignoring every weakened muscle until I was nearly there and threw myself the rest of the way. Letting go of Link's hand, I tried to back myself up from him to be as far away as possible, but the more I moved the more the ground threatened to grab me. Finally submitting to the greater fear, I fell in closely behind him and hesitantly settled my hands on his shoulders. A part of me wanted to wrap my arms around his torso, but his shield remained in the way and I was too afraid to ask him to remove it.

The first step and each step afterwards were like small nightmares that played with my nerves. I couldn't comprehend my own fear in those moments, why everything made me leap. A small voice poked back out at me and it was then I realized I'd shut my eyes.

It asked again, louder, "Are you alright?"

I opened my lids, gazing out at a chasm that ended in nothing but endless fog. Hooves hit wood, but although this scene should have terrified me, I found myself breathing and speaking. "I'm...fine." I rested my chin on the back of my hand, "I think."

Epona sped up again.

"Nevermind." My head flew back and I gripped him tighter.

"Are you always like this?" Link attempted a glance back at me as we flitted by a forest. In the distance I could see the land rise up sharply.

"Yeah...I probably should've mentioned that." I murmured.

Ahead of us opened up a clearing and a beach, then I saw the water of a spring. It ran by leisurely, boasting its opaque waters and small falls before we could get past it. I tried to look back but it was gone from sight.

"Probably," he agreed, "but it's okay."

We continued on like that, never reaching a full gallop, but making quick progress through the woods. Every once and awhile he would ask me a question about myself and I would answer, never asking in return. Things like small hobbies, where I was from. I laid them all out simply. I played flute, went to school, I explained that most people around me were well off so that the peculiarity of my life might just seem like one big luxury for the rich.

The trees continued on further than the game had allowed them. We should've already been in the field, but we were still under a full canopy of leaves. I was watching the branches wave and the underbrush reach out into the path when a clearing finally opened up. On the other side was a ramshackle cabin, a fire popping outside with a pot laid over it.

As I looked straight ahead I could see the trees thinning. Each movement forward brought more and more of the large expanse into view. It was like the world was opening up to me, showing me its beauty and begging me to stay. My body was nearly draped over Link's as I leaned forward with widened eyes.

Far in the distance was the castle, grand and high in a blackened and twilight curtain. A veil fell over half the field and the lower to the ground it got, the darker it became. Separating us was nothing but fields and trees, hills and cliffs, but in sight I could see it. I felt my arm begin to move outward to reach for it, but I stopped it, letting it rest.

Link paid the view no mind as we took a turn westward and continued on like the castle wasn't there.

"It's even prettier than I expected." I remarked.

"What?" Link looked at the curtain of Twilight, "That thing?"

"Everything." Despite everything, I lost all panic. My hair bounced behind me and the small breeze that caught around us sang me a song. The warmth of the sun guided my tongue out of its place, allowing me a peace as I began asking questions. The first one, I'll never forget, "Why'd you let me come along?"

Link hesitated, shrugging his shoulders carefully, "I guess you seemed innocent enough to me."

"Innocent? That doesn't mean I can fight, like you said I would have to anyway. Aren't I in over my head?" I paused, trying to lean a way that I could see his face. When I thought I might have leaned over enough, we passed underneath a tree and his expression was undecipherable in shadow as I retreated back, "So, why'd you really let me?"

"I-I don't know, I'll tell you later."

Later? What was later? Where would the story lead us...later? I sighed, entertaining myself with the ground. Ahead of us were the mountains now, but I was too deep in thought. What was later? Each memory seemed to me unharmful, maybe I was just dumb.

But then I remembered.

"What the-" Link gasped.

My head shot up and caught the tail end of something rushing through a gate. I heard myself, barely having registered my lips moving, "Colin." So gentle, yet Link tensed up immediately.

"What?!" his voice quivered.

"Colin!"

I found myself doomed in a split second. The previous waves of his voice crashed into the rocks at shore. Gravely, he yelled, "Hiyah," and we took off in a sprint. There wasn't any time to process my terror, so I threw my arms around his neck. Although I tugged him back, he didn't complain.

The grand field was disrupted by rock and cliff until a small town leapt out from the mountain. We'd caught up to the creatures just barely in time to see them disappear behind a corner, but rather than press on, he abruptly stopped Epona. She flew up on her hind legs, neighing loudly as I choked Link and quieting as she dropped back down. Not even a second afterward my arms were being torn off.

"Get off," Link threw my hands back and glared at me.

I rubbed my palm where his nail dug too deep, "Wha-what?"

"I said, get off!" he pleaded with me urgently, but my mind still had yet to process anything correctly, it was too busy shooting adrenaline everywhere.

"I-I," I took a deep breath of the coarse air, above us the sun cried out with its last dying rays. With it, it was taking me too. I lost myself for far too long and with an exasperated look from Link, the horse galloped underneath us again.

The town blurred beside us. We were a bullet set out to kill and as everything went by I felt my body enter flesh once again. It was like I came back from an absence, only to be greeted with chaos.

"Link?"

"What?!"

"I change my mind. Let me off." I wrapped my arms around his torso, pressing myself against his shield as I shut my eyes.

"It's a little too late." I could hear the malice in his voice, but then softly, "If you can reach my pouch quickly, there should be a knife in there. It isn't much, but it's enough." he shifted his arms, reaching up and towards his back on his left side, "Oh, and everything in there is small, feel around carefully."

I inhaled a hard scent of Link's sweat, opening my eyes to the sight of nothing but the massive expanse of field, obstructed only by a chasm. Looking up, the unsheathing of a sword rung high while my hand left its hold and searched without looking for the first pouch. Upon the horizon was a gang of bulblins riding boars, in the middle was a large one, the "King," atop a blue pig.

We were racing, but each action registered slowly, the unhooking of the clasp, my hand slipping in. At the bottom I felt the tiniest prick and poked it up. In my hand arose a small blade all the while Epona slowed to a stop and Link lowered his sword. Between us and them was distance enough to shoot a thousand arrows accurately, yet no one moved.

A pole. Tied to it was a boy, dangling lifelessly. In the dying sunset there was a breeze that carried the rope's end. Link yelled out at it, "What the hell is this? Who are you with?!"

The leader of the group brought a horn to his lips and blew into it. In unison, his underlings charged while he turned away. As the King himself began to ride off, Link shouted once more, urging Epona to run even while we were engulfed on all sides by bulblins.

My left arm held tightly onto him, my right holding out the knife without any idea what to do with it. Some had bows, others held simple blades, and one got too close and captured a sword straight through its chest. Most of me remained composed, however my eyes widened as I watched the blood stained sword be torn out. The bulblin's lifeless body slumped to the ground as the boar still ran.

While we continued to gain ground ahead of the hoard, I gripped the knife harder, restricting my breath so it wouldn't pant in Link's ear. "Um," I whispered, "Why'd you let me come along again?"

Link gritted his teeth, pressing Epona ever faster and my heart nearly to burst, "What kind of question is that?! I don't know, you seemed to know something!" The blue boar grew larger on the horizon, scampering along slow enough to catch up to. "You know anything right now?!"

I offered what I could in a half laughing, flustered sentence, "Um, well, you're gonna like...play a game of chicken with him on Eldin Bridge. It'll be...uh…" I thought for a moment, "It's gonna be zesty."

Link huffed, "It's gonna be what?!" he pulled to the right, culling tension up into his sword, eyeing him, the King whose skin was an acidic green with clothes as savagely torn as his demeanor.

I breathed in as the sword pulled back, leaning away from Link's left. It sliced into the King's muscle, flinging blood past us. Above towered the pole, fiercely wobbling with every gallop. A club arose in front of us and Epona began to slow to avoid the swing. That was all it took for the King to speed away and for his hoard to barely lick our heels once more.

Link flicked the reigns harder in a vain attempt to push Epona, but she was far too exhausted from the burst before. Scattered around us, he looked for another bulblin to poke off its beast. The knife was still gripped into my fist, getting slippery with sweat. I swallowed hard as a bulblin squealed somewhere to my left, the sound of a sword leaving flesh following afterwards.

We broke away again, but I wasn't watching for the King, if he grew closer, if Link was readying his sword again. All I heard was its grunt, all I felt was the knife in my hand. I could tell that we'd fallen back again when a blob of brown and green figures obstructed the grass. They were blurry caricatures, thrashing and shouting all around us. Link began swinging, threatening to elbow me at any moment. I was losing the grip on the knife slowly, but I couldn't bring myself to let it go.

In the cacophony, one of the bulblins stood out from the fog. Its arm was back, pulled on a bow string with an arrow aimed right at Link's head. I watched Link do nothing, attention stuck to the right where he was deflecting a rally of blows with his sword. When I looked back, its hand released the arrow.

The knife slid out of my fingers as I reached out in earnest for the arrow. Link's eyes switched over to our side, widening. Something gripped my arm, I felt it, but I couldn't see it. It numbed my limb, drawing out all feeling through my palm. In between us erupted a red pane, clear, thin. The arrow struck it, plinking off but not without cracking the surface.

I panted as it faded from the air and a hot sensation overtook the numb from before.

Link shook his head, leaning forward as we surged away from the bulblins. I remained still, reaching out for nothing, repeating in my mind, "It wasn't me." Sense came back in time and my palm lied itself on his shoulder. His muscles were rigid. As the wind enveloped us, strands of my hair tangled around each other, flicking past my ears. The king came up on our left again, steering away just not fast enough for a sword to strike down across his back.

A cry grated out of his throat and he peered back at us. Epona valiantly kept pace, galloping directly behind as we bulleted across the field and towards a long stone bridge. It hovered over the chasm, the bottom but darkness. Crumpling up the fabric of his tunic, I gritted my teeth and uttered to Link, "This is it."

His eyes ridiculed me, "What should I do?"

"I don't know...Get Colin safe first?"

Link thought briefly, "Can I try something crazy?"

I nodded meekly as he sheathed his sword, "I'll grab that pole thing, you cut it down, quickly. Willing to give it a shot?"

I shook my head.

We were lead through pathways of ruined columns that lead up to the archway of the Bridge of Eldin. The sun painted the stone a deep orange on the other side, however the front was cast in shadow. It passed over us, depriving a warmth until we slowed to a stop at its threshold. The King kept on.

"That was you back there, right?" Link studied him across the bridge.

"No, dingus." I released his tunic, adjusting the hem of my sleeves gingerly.

"Dingus? I see, this one's an insult." he scowled, "You know more than you're letting on."

The King turned his boar.

I clamped down on his shoulders again. "I really don't. And even if that was me, it was an accident. I can't recreate that." Link didn't seem to hear me, "You're being an idiot risking this, you know that, right?!"

"Right."

Epona broke into a gallop. The sword still sat in its sheath.

"Link!" I pleaded, but on the other side, the boar had already started running as well. I cast a look behind us, searching for maybe an escape, but where we'd entered was now crowded by the hoard. They sneered and cheered wildly, raising spears and clubs. One fired a flaming arrow into the air, whooping.

My eyes went narrow and I looked forward. Our collision course was just barely met. I knew the King had too much pride to dodge out of the way, so despite Link's stubborn sense, we would have to veer first. Yet Link wasn't moving.

The clip of hooves surged with the thumping of my heart, closer and closer. Stone, steed, flesh, then air. Epona was on the verge of sticking herself into the boar's horns before her reigns were tugged right. The King's body flashed past us, an up close account of dirt and grim layered over saggy skin. It was all a flicker in a mist.

Link reached and gripped the pole, waiting to throw out his other hand if I reacted in time. My mind didn't, however, it hadn't even prepared, I'd distracted myself to assure that. The next second he'd let go and kept riding on to the other end of the bridge. When the exit was but an inch away to pass, he pulled back hard and Epona rose up on her hind legs. The new silence of the air soothed the buzzing violence in my head, but it didn't persist.

"You're not even going to try?" he complained, turning us around.

"I'm sorry, I got distracted…"

Link sighed, "I'll give you one more chance if you want it." A hand rested on his hilt, "So?"

"Why not just knock him off of the boar?" I questioned, slouching.

"If that's what you want to do." Link cocked his head at the King, "I don't know how much longer he'll wait."

"This is your fight!" I straightened, "Stop testing me!"

He grunted, pulling out his sword from its sheath as Epona charged, "Don't know why I trusted you anyways."

I locked my eyes forward, waiting for the moment when we dodged. Maybe if this was a dream I could knock us off and wake up. Maybe, if this was but a dream, I'd already have woken up. As we raced down the middle I didn't know what my decision was, whether I would ruin it all, in some way, or whether I would try, somehow, to save it.

The same sensation danced across both of my limbs as I drew out some essence within me. There was an energy flowing there, through my bloodstream, an energy I wasn't familiar with, but with one look, had shown up. My arms were growing number, my hand tense while holding back something. Our approach came up against each other. Head to head.

Link cast right, coming across with a slice through the King's arm. I directed my palm at him, releasing the tension to a wave of green lightning that enveloped him sporadically, but did little to cast him off like I'd hoped.

We went back again, turning without any conversation and sprinting once more as he slid his sword away in exchange for a shield. The King came up, Link veered right, the moment of all colliding into one, he abruptly pulled in closer after avoiding, driving his shield up into the King's chest.

He lost his balance, shifting slightly out, then slipping all at once off with the saddle that glided to the other side. Obstructed by his steed, and Link, I couldn't see what had happened, but had heard the thump of him hitting the ground and nothing more. Once the boar had cleared away, there was no one left.

The brief reprise was broken by Epona's movements once again, beginning toward the boar before it got away with Colin. Link changed weapons, bumping me not so delicately with his shield. Not even a sorry followed suite.

I didn't care, there were much more pressing issues. We were running straight towards the hoard that blocked the entryway. Nothing seemed to be stopping Link, he just kept on. When we caught up to the boar, he sliced down the pole, catching it in both hands, but not bringing it down. We still didn't stop either. But now, I was seeing why.

Around the opening the hoard was quickly dispersing out of our way, picking off, one by one. Their images were blurry browns as we broke through them, and left them behind. They didn't chase after us, they ran away.

As we beat on, Link struggled to lower the pole and reach the reigns with a sword in one of his grasps. I reached out, holding around it with both hands. He dropped it with his left, settling half the weight to me which I struggled to hold. The grass turned to stone, the stone turned to cliffs, and we were spiraling through the town once more. Houses and abandoned storefronts glided by, left behind at the sight of the lake. Epona slowed down, galloping, trotting, and walking slowly to a stop.

Hands free, Link grabbed the pole back from me and jumped off. By the lake's shore was a group of kids and a man. They all looked at Link anxiously. When he reached them and lowered the pole in their midst they all crowded around Colin, watching as he loosened the rope and propped up his head.

The kid didn't come to for a couple minutes and the air was filled with a roar of excitement, worry, and question. One question, although quiet, met my ears like it was louder than the rest. "Who's the girl?" It had come from the smallest one, Malo. His clothes reached past his feet and his eyes were a deep brown, I could tell because he stared right at me.

I don't think Link answered that one. At least because the little blonde freckled girl had enthusiastically gushed over if he had any new scars from the fight directly over Malo. He replied a "No," I heard that much.

The sun was quickly setting over the lake. It'd already draped most of the town into shade, but this one spot remained untouched. I itched to slip out of the saddle and possibly halfway across town, so my hands held Epona's mane and I swung myself off. When my feet hit ground, my legs throbbed.

The lake had gone silent. I didn't walk over or even look, but as a small voice spoke, "Link…" I knew Colin had woken up. Their voices were gentle from there. Floating on the breeze like leaves in fall.

I listened to every word as I stood there, I drank them in, staring at nothing but my feet until they just stopped. They'd followed in a party, disappearing behind a creaky door. A hope that Link had left me crept into my head. Ultimately, it was crushed by a pair of boots and a hand.

"Hey, thanks." Link inched his hand closer, "I'm sorry, I should've let you off." he laughed, waiting one more second before dropping it to his side. "You, uh...you in there?"

I shook my head, "Too much."

"I was thinking of gathering some food for later. You want to walk? I can stop talking."

"Why aren't you with them? With you cousin?" I held my arms tight to my chest.

Link shifted uncomfortably in his boots, "I can't just leave you standing here. They'll have dinner later anyway, I can see them then." he stepped to the side, "Come on, I'll walk you to the inn." As he passed by me, I finally looked up at him. He began leading Epona on.

Somberly, I followed him. He reverted to the promise of silence, not speaking, not glancing, praying I was behind him.

"Why'd you let me come along?"

His whole body stuttered, "Goddesses, you scared me."

I stepped up beside him, peering him down, "I want an answer this time."

An exasperated sigh heaved out of his chest, afterwards was nothing. Lips twisting, fingers tapping, he finally let out an answer, "I figured if you weren't entirely crazy maybe I could use you. And I guess I trusted you enough." he shrugged, "Selfish reasons."

I leaned down to his eye level, "And now?"

Obnoxious, that was what I was, "Still selfish. Unless...you want to make a deal?"

I scowled at him, "Depends."

"You help me, I'll help you."

"I don't know if you noticed, but what I did 'back there?' I can't control that. Can't you get some other witch?" my back straightened, "Plus I don't want to be your weapon even if I figure this out. I want to get home."

"Magic isn't as common as you think it is." he spat, "I can't just find a witch, and even if I did they'd probably be an enemy." We stopped in front of a building with a porch, part of the left side was left in splinters. He looked at me, "What's your deal anyway?"

"I want to go home, is that too much to ask? I thought you were nice."

"I have bigger issues that need to be addressed," he scoffed, "If your stories are correct, you should already know that."

Link wasn't wrong, saving Hyrule was a far greater cause than getting my selfish ass home. Nonetheless I was angry, having gone through the day and in the end getting picked off didn't sit well. "You said magic isn't common, so any enemy would want to get their hands on me, whether I turned out valuable or not." his stiff resolve softened, "By your selfish logic, I'd be an important asset to keep around, wouldn't I?" I sighed, "Please."

He crossed his arms, "Well I," turning away, he grumbled, "I see your point."

"Sorry," I mumbled as Link tied Epona's reigns to the porch, "I'm sorry."

He glared at me, "You didn't have that power before?"

I thought he'd already found that out, but it didn't matter either way, maybe he was bringing something up. "No."

There was a long pause where he stared at me intently. Judging from his twisted lips, he knew something and was figuring whether to hold it back or not. "Midna warned about these creatures."

"Oh yeah?" I coaxed, blood pumping in my ears suddenly.

"She said they were dangerous, that if I ever found someone with golden blood, to kill them immediately." he recalled, putting up a wall of fire between us.

An anxious laugh slid by my lips, "My blood's red, I've gotten enough scratches from my cats to know that." I avoided the fact that I had only recently gotten the power, avoided that my blood might be golden now, rather than before.

Link evaded it as well, "Weird… Well, I'm gonna go get some provisions for our trip up Death Mountain. I'll make sure to get you shoes. You okay waiting in there?"

I nodded.

"See ya later then." It was like he played with the fire in his last dying look, a threat that should I cross him, I would get burned.

He ran off back in the direction we came, toward the large cement house. Not knowing what else to do I climbed the broken steps and slid inside the door. In the lobby was a couple tossed over tables and chairs. I sat in the closest set that wasn't knocked over and marveled at the room. All around, the floor was torn up, broken dishes scattered by the kitchen and a lantern nearby by lit the whole area dimly. It looked like a cleaning was attempted, but not nearly finished.

I shut my eyes at it all, exhausted enough to lay my head down on my arms too. There was too much. Too many people, too much destruction in one room. Way too much Link, more than I could handle. But now I was alone, in my mind.

I didn't want it, oddly enough. It was terrifying to be alone after everything and in a place like this where creatures could be lurking anywhere. I wanted to be home of course, I wanted to talk to someone like I was discussing this all as a bad dream. Maybe I could start, "Earlier? Yeah earlier, this weird thing happened where I threw up like, a shield? Thing? I don't know what it was but guess what! This hottie totally hates my guts and wants to actually kill me."

"Stupid." I muttered, I'd never talk like that.

I opened my eyes. In front of me was my hand, resting there, waiting to be used. My blood pulsed, gathering up, flowing and building tension. When it was numb enough, I relaxed. Out of my fingers danced a blue crackling light that diminished immediately. I didn't try again after that, too afraid of what it was.

Instead I fell asleep and woke up to a plate of food and someone shaking my shoulder. "Hungry?" Link's voice lifted me from my nap.

I shook my head as my stomach churned.

"Alright, there's beds upstairs, come up whenever." he hesitated, "I'm sorry about earlier."

I waited for him to leave before taking a bite of the food. It was bland, some kind of meat, but I finished it all and stood up. The stairs creaked, yet I jogged up each one reached the top, a small balcony. Peering down the hallway, I saw only one door open and as I approached I realized there was, in fact, no door at all. When I entered I found two beds, one occupied by a lump and the other vacant.

Plopping myself on the made up bed, I hesitantly slid under the covers and tried to shut my eyes. I knew I wouldn't sleep again, but I tried.

A few hours passed and I felt myself drifting, however, a shuffling across the room woke me out of that. It shifted out of bed, standing up and snatching something off the floor. A strange tone hummed off the walls, following it was an accented voice, speaking in a whisper, "Don't."

A sword slided from its sheath.

"Why not? You told me-" Link spoke quieter, but in the dead silence nothing escaped my ears. I pretended to sleep.

"I know what I said."

Steps crept closer to my bed, "And what if she's dangerous?"

"I don't think she would've revealed her powers if she was." the voice pressed on, "Honestly, Link, can't you show her some mercy? She saved your life."

He sighed loudly, "It was one dingy arrow." the sword slid back in, clanking loudly as he stomped back over to the other side of the room and dropped the sheath on the floor with a thud.

"That's it, who's a good boy?"

"Shut up," a body plunked back down on the other bed, shifting the covers.

I pushed myself up and looked over at the other side. Everything had settled back to its original state, except I'd chosen the wrong moment to spring up, Link stared back at me.

"Uh," I blinked, wide eyed, "Were you talking to someone?"

"Uh," his voice strained itself, "Midna woke me up to talk about something." he sunk lower into the bed, "Go to back to sleep, we have to get up at dawn."

"Alrighty." I fell back down, ignoring the scent of dust that filled my nostrils and rolled over to the face the wall I would stare at until the first sight of dawn inched through the window.


	3. Here

**Finally finished Chapter 3! Don't know if editing went quite as well, but I still fixed a lot of stuff so whatever.**

 **Thanks for the new follows and favorites! I don't know how frequently I'll be able to work on this because my history class is way more packed with homework than I expected. Fingers crossed everything goes well.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

A cold hand gripped my shoulder and I flinched. I'd heard someone's footsteps, but nonetheless their touch terrified me, "Jesus Christ." I blurted as their grasp left me and I rolled over. Link loomed above me, puzzled.

Raising an eyebrow, he mused, "Who?"

I sat up, cracking my back and rubbing my eyes vigorously, "It's just an expression, don't worry about it." Waving him off, I tried to bring my legs out of the covers, but the air was too cold and I hesitated. "You have more important issues, anyway." I finished.

The dim light from the window tinted the room in blues and as it filtered through it failed to warm anything it touched. Link had returned to his side of the room, collecting up equipment and throwing back on random articles of clothing. He didn't wear his gauntlets or tunic, only an undershirt and tight pants that bunched up around his ankles. After getting his tunic back on he dragged his sword off the floor, lowering his eyes at it. A frown overtook him before he strapped it on his back and continued on.

My heart beat in my temples continuously as I watched him. The nonchalance of it, acting under little hurry, made my chest squeeze. This consciousness was a gift from him, should that voice had not urged him otherwise, I would be in an eternal dream, much different from this distorted reality. I thought about bringing it up to him, but when he approached me with a new pair of boots, I was breathing too heavily to speak.

"How'd you sleep?" he asked flatly, stretching out an arm to offer the boots to me.

I slid my feet to the floor and accepted them, also apparently giving permission for their layer of dirt to settle onto my hands. They were worn and leathery, smelling of sweat and mold. Perhaps this was his real method of murdering me. Sulking, I murmured, "I didn't sleep at all."

"Did I wake you up?" Link cracked his knuckles, "I'm sorry."

It could all come out now, I could be mad at him, I could ask him why. In the end I wasn't strong enough to get the answer. "I hadn't been sleeping for long anway." I traced a knot in the wooden floor with my toe.

He breathed out glumly, "Did you...hear anything?"

I dropped the boots onto the floor and began tugging them on, "I heard you say, 'Shut up,'" My fingers fumbled as I pulled the first one on, "that's it."

Once I had the second one on I stood up, wiggling my toes into the worn soles. They fit around my legs loosely, but my feet found little space to move. Link watched me skeptically, tracing my movements with his eyes, "If you're going to follow me, you need to understand some things." He stated.

"What?" I held my arms tightly around my chest for warmth, quivering with a sudden chill that ran up my spine.

"For now, always stay behind me," although his head tilted up at me, he held a firm hold on his authority, listing off everything as if they were rules set over his child, "and don't just wander off. It's not safe here. If at all possible, I would practice your magic while we're on the road too." With that he gestured to the doorway, "Let's go." shoving on his green hat over his messy hair, he went to leave.

It had hit me then how silly the hat really was, dangling halfway down his back, still not as long as my own hair. I snorted.

"What?" he glared at me.

"That stupid hat." I pointed at his head.

He adjusted it tenderly, "Hey, at least I don't have to wear glasses." strolling out, he left me behind, pushing the frames up on my nose. I followed soon after, just as he'd told me to do.

The sleepy town was still as desolate as it was last night, the only signs of life a smoke stack raising from the cement house by the spring. Epona was no longer tied to the porch, off somewhere else being tended to, I assumed. We headed up north, dodging into a path I hadn't noticed before.

In the way of the path arose a wall, holding back rocks and debris. Over it was a disheveled netting, torn in places and about ready to snap in others. The only real way up would've been the ladder propped up against it, however, it was broken in half and strewn in the dirt.

Link fit his fist around a piece of netting, lifting himself up only to be thrown down by something two seconds later. Grasping at air, his body fell backward and landed with a puff of dirt. In front of him had sprouted an imp, hovering above the ground with a sneer directed my way. Rubbing the back of his head as he sat up, he shot the imp with a glare, "What the heck!"

"I thought you were going to introduce me to her!" The imp, Midna, held her hands on her hips, her one eye shining with contempt. Her details were shrouded by a shadowy glaze cast over her skin. The only thing in color was her one eye, the other covered by a hanging edge of the Fused Shadow piece perched on top of her head. "I wanted to see her in person."

Link mumbled some insult, but remained quiet for a moment, standing and dusting off his pants. "You could've appeared behind me." he sighed, "Maizy, this is Midna."

Midna giggled, "Is it true you can tell the future?!" she flew up to my face, close enough so that we touched noses, yet she didn't back away. I had no idea what to look at, darting from her large eye to the subtle outlines of her face. When I tried to shove her away she circled back around me, giving up only a few inches of space between. "So?"

"Sort of." I rasped, balling my hands into fists as I cracked each of my thumbs lightly.

Link stepped in, "Well, she said she read about this place. And she knows about Colin, and you."

Midna continued with her flamboyance, "So you know what's coming next? Can you tell us what's on top of Death Mountain?"

I tapped my toes against the ground sheepishly trying my best to remember anything but the Gorons. Unfortunately I hadn't played the game in a year or so and it eluded me completely. "There's uh...Gorons up there."

"Oh, you didn't read the whole book?" Midna laughed sharply, "Well then I guess you weren't useful after all. I shouldn't have stopped Link from killing you." She gleamed with pride, ear to ear a smile, "I remember, you weren't asleep."

My back went cold, I'd known she was the voice, and I'd found solace in knowing she wanted me around. But it seemed she was just using it to toy with us. Poking out of my eyes were tears, and despite my attempts to hold back my emotions they ran down my cheeks.

"The Vinderendetta are vile creatures. They've already caused us problem enough, so you'd be better off dead." Midna's laugh pierced the air, a knife straight across my throat.

"Midna, stop it!" Link fumed, "Leave her alone."

She was disdainful to him, but shook her head and disappeared into his shadow.

In between sobs I wiped away tears and blinked my eyes. Link watched me solemnly, stepping closer, but making no progress. Raw wounds riddled my skin and it hurt to move, so I froze.

Why couldn't I just go home? The police were probably searching by now, but what would they find? The book I dropped? My body? Perhaps lying in the leaves I dreamt, a creature attached to my head that fed me this reality as if it was real.

"Maizy?" Link reached into the ice surrounding me, submerging himself in my panic. He was gentle as he spoke, a whisper on a current, "I'm sorry I didn't believe you." An ocean enveloped us, drowning me as he swam onwards, in desperation he pleaded I take his hand, but I didn't, "I was afraid of you."

"I'm afraid of you." I cried, "And this place. I'm afraid of myself."

Link urged once more, "Accept it. Who you are, what you'll be." he withdrew his left hand, "You can't escape the fear unless you accept your fate."

His gauntlets unraveled, like bandages revealing a wound, on the back of his hand three triangles would be darkened into his smooth skin. A mark of potential doom. The hero was chosen by the gods, he did not choose to be the hero. "A Vinderendetta?" I stared at my palms, "That's what she called them?"

"Come on." he beckoned. It was like his arms wrapped around me and I was pulled out of the arctic sea. My eyes were red from salty tears, a piece of ocean that never left me.

I climbed up the netting first, daring glances below every time it strained. My foot always remained nestled safely in place and Link's blue irises were always watching far past me. The top exceeded my standards of tolerance for heights so after halfway I stopped looking down. Above the edge was another pathway leading up the mountain, but in the middle of it was a Goron.

His imposing height and stature made every white mark on his yellow skin visible from my place so far away. "Another little human, eh?" he hummed, voice was gravelly, like his vocal chords were two rocks scraping against each other. As I got up, Link came beside me and the Goron perked up even further, "And you again! You puny humans still think you can pass?"

"Unless the universe wants to pull another plot twist on me, yeah." I mumbled.

"The universe says move over." Link elbowed me towards the left as the Goron leapt into a ball.

I leaned into the cliff side as he started rolling forward, accelerating from the steep incline. Underneath Link, the imp poked out and wrapped her hands around his ankles, replacing his regular boots with iron ones as he jumped, clanking on the way back down. In the next instant, the Goron had come up in front of him and Link grabbed his arms, heaving him past and staring back as he flew over the edge and continued rolling down the path.

"Nice." Link dusted his hands, going to step forward until he remembered. "Midna, take them off."

The air wavered.

"Midna!"

A pair of arms gripped his toes and the boots phased back to the original brown leather ones. Link rolled his eyes before we went on, hiking up the mountain.

The ground got steeper from that point on, dropping back down in places only to reveal another wall to climb. Occasionally another Goron would roll by, but we would simply dodge out of the way. Seemingly every time I would fail to move as quickly enough, so Link yanked me away by the back of my shirt. One of those times I was left coughing after the collar had dug into my throat.

"Maybe if you didn't have the reaction time of some fat noble you wouldn't be in this situation." Link chided after that particularly bad instance.

I was continuously trapped in thought, and no matter how many times I tried to stay in the present, the scent of burning metal would attack me and I'd be stuck in a cycle of loathing. I hated the smell, I hated the walk, and I was thirsty. And then another would pop out of nowhere and my stupid t-shirt would choke me again.

"Next time," I promised.

Too bad I was focused on my boots instead of the path.

Link was lecturing me on staying focused when the pathway lead out into a depressed area that stood before a towering cliff. It was unfamiliar, whether I didn't remember it correctly or it had changed, I couldn't tell. The heat had progressively gotten worse the higher we climbed, and in this area it nearly had me sweating. Above, the sky had grown overcast, but I could still tell it was about noon, the clouds were a bright grey.

We began to descend several small drops that lead to the bottom when something started whistling through the sky. Behind us, a rock shattered against the cliffs, debris clunking past us. Link leapt down the next drop, and the next, landing and running as more rocks broke around us. I could barely keep up with him, panting as I tripped over each.

When I reached the bottom, there was a loud shriek sounding overhead. A shadow fell over the ground, encircling me. Link gawked, yelling something as I looked up at the sky where a giant rock was plummeting down, beside it a twilight portal of intense black and blue loomed. The portal protruded with a swirling center, hypnotic.

Perhaps I could have run out of the way in time, but when I turned to leap, my foot caught on a rock and I fell into the ground. The rock above began blocking out the grey sky that previously encased it as it barreled toward me. Into the space between shot my hand, pleading for it to stop when my arm went completely numb, like it'd been chopped off. A bolt of energy surged out of my palm and through the boulder, creating a maze of green light that tore it apart. As I released many of the fragments flew away, but many still rained down on me and one collided with my skull.

They tore cuts along my skin as I flipped over to my side and shielded my head. Curled up, I could feel every single stone graze flesh and shoot pain up my nerves. Shards clattered into the ground, clacking against each other, when their ruckus left my ears I rested there before removing my hands from my head.

My palms were slick, covered in a layer of blood. I sat up, trying to focus against my throbbing headache, gradually peeling off my broken glasses and ripping out a small shard of the lense from my nose. The headache resided in mere seconds, leaving me with a clear view of the piece of glass I held in my fingertips.

From its edge hung a drop of gold.

The sky was dull, yet the blood hanging from the glass was shining as if reflecting the noon sun. Cuts along my body disappeared, leaving behind the same opaque color where they'd been sliced. As I breathed in and out, my blood rushed, down from my brain, to my heart, then off elsewhere. I followed it down my arm until it stopped at the tip of my thumb. With the piece of glass, I stuck my thumb and watched a streak of gold fall down its side, then it stopped. When I rubbed the blood away, there was no sign of a scab.

Blood dripped onto the hot brown stone, falling with it the piece of glass and a tear that had fallen from my cheek. A storm raged through my body, tears poured out like rain, my brain stormed, and my blood was hot like lightning.

Yet by the storm he still stood, and he was willing to be struck, "Maizy!"

Feet clamored over rock, connecting in every right edge so they met with the blood stain as quickly as possible. Solemnly, I looked up from his toes, trying to make out Link through a wet blur that stung my eyes. The tears welled up and fell along my cheeks, revealing him. His blue eyes reminded me of the ocean I was still drowning in.

My teeth grinded together, lips laced with the taste of salt. Nose stuffy, I sniffled and gasped, "What is this?!"

Link kneeled down, "It's okay. I won't hurt you, I promise."

I opened up my bloody palm, gold, I should've been dead, "What am I?" Hair was matted against my head, stuck with dried blood. I should have been riddled with wounds, but instead my skin was smudged with small gold splotches. There were no scars, only stains.

"You're okay," he repeated, "Come on, we have to go." he grabbed my hand, leading me up onto wobbling legs. Before I could fall back down safely, a black shadow flew up between us, tugging our grasp apart as I tumbled onto my butt.

I tilted my head back, met with Midna's eye, brooding and callous with her snarl. The tears trailing my cheeks halted their path in terror and I pulled back as far as I could against the fallen rocks. In the distance rained the fiery boulders still, but in this place we did not move, the only thing in motion was the bending accent of a sharp tongue that cried, "I knew it!"

"I'm sorry, I-I," my voice became inaudible.

"If you try anything," she paused, welled up with anger, "don't expect any mercy from me." Midna slipped away, pulling back a curtain to Link's wide eyes.

I stood up, brushing away tears and wiping my nose on my sleeve. My composure didn't last long and I began crying again. "What am I?" I sobbed.

He sighed heavily, stumbling over himself, "She told me...the Vinderendetta...they're the reason Zant was able to take power." A sharp whistle came from above as a rock slammed a little ways away. Link stretched out his arm, then extended it to me, "I don't know much else, but I trust you. You can feel safe knowing that."

His posture was erect and despite his fierce eyes, I found his manners inviting. Truthfully, I didn't want to trust him, not when his shadow was filled with so much hatred, yet I took up his hand again, feeling my way around the leather until it fit right. I was still covered in blood, disheveled from head to toe, but I could do nothing.

Our feet picked a way, skipping on top of the cracked rocks. When my boots hit ground I had found my tears dried on my cheeks and my hand empty. Link's gauntlet was smeared a brilliant gold which he warily wiped off on his pants, leaving a stain that was only a shade or two duller.

We walked around the base of the mountain, eyeing entrances and exits, all guarded by Gorons that either stared straight forward, or caught our gazes. Across one of the exits was a hot spring Link squinted at, then glanced my way. I'd still yet to see myself in comparison to when I'd sat in that room alone and considering the odd look from Link, I wasn't holding up too well. He jogged away, gesturing me to follow as we came to a large archway. Strung across was a rope under which hung several pieces of cloth bearing a simple symbol much like a spiked paw print.

In the opening were two Gorons, arms crossed and eyes dead set on us. Link marched up to them, carrying me in tow, though, I kept my distance, watching his shadow play over the ground. He set himself in front of them and spoke articulately, "Hello."

The Goron on the left uncrossed his arms and made huge fists, each easily the size of my head, "I heard there were two humans running around." he chuckled, "How'd you get all the way up here?"

Link set his hands on his hips, ignoring the sheer height of both of the Gorons, feet taller than both of us. "It doesn't matter how, it matters why. I came here to fix your problem, you have an elder, yes?"

Their eyes twinkled, "You wish to see the elder?" the second one questioned. They eyed each other, faces framed in confusion by the contour of rocks protruding from their skin.

"Yes." Link clarified.

The left Goron gestured his head back, "Follow us then." he squinted at me, "She with you?"

Link looked back at me, several feet away. "Yeah, she's still with me."

My heart beat faster as I stepped closer to him and fell in step behind when they'd all turned to go in. It was a small incline up to an open room, carved out like a cave. Lining the walls were six Gorons, two more sitting steadfast in front of a doorway. A few torches lit the room and an intense heat boiled in the air, flowing in from the far door. In the middle was a ring, from what I could remember, for sumo wrestling. They all regarded us cautiously, nodding at the two Gorons leading in.

"They would like to speak to an elder." one said.

The two by the doorway disappeared, coming back out moments later with someone behind. When they parted they revealed a stout Goron, shorter than the others, but holding himself with more energy. On his stomach was purple paint and his skin sagged around tattoos of the same symbol from the cloth on his arms.

Link left the path of the two Gorons that had lead us in and skipped ahead, me trailing behind slowly as I watched the faces of the others glare at me from the walls. The elder crossed his arms firmly, smiling, "I am the elder Gor Coron, you wanted to see me. What brings a small human like you all the way up the mountain?"

We settled below him, looking up from the base of a small staircase, "I heard Death Mountain has been restless lately." Link started, "If you wish, I can fix that for you."

"You know, it's not that simple." Gor Coron looked at us skeptically, "A few days ago all four of us elders and our patriarch went to investigate after the mountain began to rage. Our treasure entrusted to us by the spirits came to be the source, but the moment our patriarch touched it, he turned into a monster." he unfolded his arms, "Darbus is locked deep within the mines, who are you to go and rescue him?"

Link flexed his fingers, "My name's Link, I've been chosen by the gods to protect Hyrule. Please, allow me to help you."

"Prove it."

"What?" Link hesitated, "I can't-"

Gor Coron interrupted him, "I used to be the strongest of the Gorons in my prime. Prove to me you aren't just some slouch, got it kid?"

"O-okay." Link stuttered, glancing back at the ring, "Let's go."

The six Gorons, including some that had entered from a side hallway, gathered around the ring. Link climbed up, looking exceptionally small next to Gor Coron, and hopped into the air, for a split second the imp's hands shot out and graced his feet with iron boots. No one around us batted an eye. I looked up at the two Gorons still by the door, and although they seemed perplexed, they didn't say anything.

At first, I watched anxiously from my spot in front of the steps, until someone from the crowd shifted over and blocked my vision. From that point I could only see rocky backs and hear Link grunting, along with his iron boots that clanked around sporadically. Meanwhile Gor Coron's feet were always firm thuds that dug into the dirt, he rarely made any noise to signal difficulty.

I sighed, going to scratch a zit on my forehead I'd made a scab out of just the other day only to realize it wasn't there anymore. Of course, why would it be? My fingers twitched and I pulled them off my face, sticking out my index and tensing it slightly. I took a deep breath, imagining my blood flowing through me to my nail and not letting it stop as I pushed it passed my skin. Out of my fingertip shot a small blue bolt that continued to dance like an electrical current.

"Hey!" a rough voice called. The small static stopped as I twirled around to one of the two Gorons glaring at me, "Was that magic?" he was about to step down to investigate me when a loud cheer erupted from the ring. As I spun back around, I saw Link running a hand through his hair. He stood high on the ring and below Gor Coron was lying on the ground, laughing cheerfully.

I moved away quickly, taking advantage of the break in the crowd where he'd landed to jump up next to Link. Gor Coron stood, dusting off his hands before reaching out one that Link took to shake. "I would expect no less from the Goddesses' hero. May they bless you further."

"Thank you," Link tapped his toe lightly and the boots disappeared back to normal brown. He ran his fingers through his hair again, sweat dripping down his temples.

"You may enter." Gor Coron frowned, "The other elders hold the shards of the key we used to seal Darbus. They're somewhere in the mines. I have hope you can find them. May the Goddesses give you strength."

Link bowed his head, "Thank you again. We won't let you down."

We climbed down, jogging over and up the steps and straight through the doorway. Once on the other side a scorching heat flew into my lungs and singed my skin. We stood on a pathway that lead down to a pool of lava. All around, geysers spat out jets of molten liquid that collapsed within seconds before boiling over again. Just past the first pool was another, on top a metal cage that lead up to a higher level.

"Jeez," I mumbled, "Maybe I should just walk back to Kakariko."

Link elbowed my arm encouragingly, "Come on, don't be afraid of yourself, don't be afraid of Midna, and don't be afraid of me." he stepped to the edge where the pathway dropped off to a lower level. Gesturing forward he cracked a smile, "You ready?"

I scratched my arm where he'd poked me, "Yeah, yeah, I'm still with you."


	4. I Am

**Hi! It's been awhile. It's been a very busy time in my life with a lot of different writing projects going on currently such as that new fanfiction I wrote as well as my book. Well on top of that I'm doing a lot of school work. If there seems to be a weird shift in writing style it's probably just because the first half was written months ago and I honestly could not be bothered to do more than typo edits.**

 **Hopefully it's still enjoyable!**

(P.S. Don't expect frequent updates, I have a lot going on, SAT's, AP tests, research papers, precalc work, band, it's a lot but I write this when I'm really missing my favorite fanfiction that is near and dear to my heart.)

* * *

Link dropped his arm and turned back to me, "Stay close." he said. I nodded gingerly, unfolding my arms from my chest, feeling slow breaths run through my lungs.

We started down the pathway, plunking onto the staggered pieces of metal drilled into the ground, never looking back at the empty doorway, the only way out now. The pool of lava popped and boiled, with each sudden burst of a geyser there would be a heat wave that surged through the room.

My chest was tight looking at it all, questioning if I really belonged in a place like this, with a guy like that right in front of me. "Link?" I said softly. He glanced back, an intense orange tinting his blue eyes, not responding, waiting. I stopped walking for a moment, "I really…" tears welled up in my eyes, "I want to go home."

There was a look of melancholy on his face, "We all do."

I shook my head, "Sorry, I forgot what I was going to ask."

He nodded and started moving again, closer to the geysers, closer to the jump. I wiped my eyes and jogged back up behind him, slowing to a halt as he did right in front of a break in the rock. Below I could hear a bubbling grow, fuming furiously until an awful blast erupted and shot a column of lava out in front of us.

My hands shot up, tensing as they moved, numbing. They froze there for a moment before a red light enveloped our view, like a window keeping out the bugs of night. Link's jaw fell and his eyebrows knitted themselves together as lava spit and hissed against the red sheen. He reached out to stroke it, but by the time his fingertips were about to touch, the lava fell and the shield dissipated.

I dropped my quivering hands, "Sorry."

"No, no," Link relaxed his composure, "it's okay."

"Maybe I'm not cut out for this." My shoulders drooped and I turned my back to the bubbling lava, to the boy behind me.

His hand slid over my sleeve and he tugged me back to him, his eyes tender on my tears, "I thought the same thing just over a week ago. But then I realized if I didn't keep fighting I'd never get home."

I held it there, like a painter grasping at their subject. For the first time he gave me a genuine smile and my lips mimicked him involuntarily, but it was weaker and softer. The geyser gushed again, throwing heat around us before it fell again and I walked forward.

The jump was terrifying. I practically ran into Link on the other side and although I flinched at the near impact, he merely watched me stumble without a twitch of a muscle.

We weaved through a metal scaffold, dodging jets of scorching lava and a few too many fireballs that landed too close for comfort. When we found a ladder we came to an odd area, there was a stone pathway connected to the scaffold, however, the ceiling was crowded with torch slugs, as Link called them. The moment we walked too close, one dropped from the ceiling and I reeled back in disgust.

Link unsheathed his sword and poked the tip into its burning skin, then turned to me, "You should kill it."

"Me?" my eyebrows wove themselves together as I kept pulling as far away as possible.

"It barely even attacks, just, shoot at it or something." Link gestured down at the slug, the fire enveloping its back diminishing.

I sucked in a breath, raising up my arms and hands to frame the slimy creature. They tensed, tightening each muscle, pleading for my blood to flow out of me, glistening, but nothing ever went numb and when I released the pressure only a small red static filled the air.

Link raised an eyebrow at me, "You can do it, I know you know how." he sheathed his sword and crossed his arms.

My heart beat quick as I pulled my hands back towards my chest, sighing before setting back up, one palm out this time. I imagined the tension flowing like a current, one side of my body to the other, following the blood vessels through my heart. The numb sensation came back, over taking my sense of tension until I pushed through it, throwing it all out. A shutter of green light struck into the ground.

The slug imploded, bits of slimy flesh landing just at my feet or hitting the wall. In a moment each bit shriveled and dried up, becoming a pile of sand in seconds. I felt guilty somehow, disgusted with myself and the power I knew how to use. Link smirked to himself and I caught his eyes without ever drawing them to mine. It wasn't hard to imagine a horror from my hands, a horror that told me I could just as easily strike him through the heart as I did the slug.

To be capable of killing something sat at the front of my mind, poking at my nerves and redirecting my thoughts countless times. It took a few minutes, but Link finally got me to speak, noticing my silence while we trudged on.

"They don't have brains like us." he said.

I took my eyes off the stone to glare at him, "What?"

"The slugs, they're just like bugs." he elbowed me, "Don't be bothered by it."

He failed to convince me, but I got my voice back to respond to his small inquiries and commands. I gladly followed his demand for me to sit down while he tried to figure out a switch issue. I began fiddling with a pouch of water we'd been tossing to each other for much of the off time while we searched around for doors and keys. So far, he took on most of the enemies, however, I had tried and missed a few slugs.

When Link drifted off behind a corner, a small figure jumped from my shadow. I tried to retreat but my back hit a wall and I froze there in the gaze of her one beading eye. She snarled, revealing a small fang at the edge of her smile.

"Let's make a deal, okay?" Midna glided ever so closer.

I nodded.

She relaxed back, as if lounging on an invisible chair, "You tell Link the solution to this puzzle if you're so familiar with everything here. Then maybe I'll believe you."

The whole while he'd been trying to figure things out, I debated telling him what to do because it didn't take long for me to remember. But I hadn't said anything, afraid I would affect something if I did. As Link turned the corner again, beads of sweat running down the back of his neck, I found it even harder to organize the words.

Link immediately noticed Midna and took a step back. "What's going on?" he narrowed his eyes at her, relieving me of any blame. I took a deep breath.

"Planning a truce," she giggled, "As long as Maizy agrees to tell you the solution to this puzzle."

The brief relief left as quickly as it came, his eyes were on me. "Uh," I stumbled over the thoughts rushing through my mind, but managed to grab one, "The switch you keep stepping on triggers the jet to shut off, you just aren't fast enough."

A flash of recognition filled his eyes and dissipated. Midna didn't sneer or remark, she looked back at me, straight-faced and dignified.

Link glanced at the switch, then back to me, "Why would they build it like that?"

I shrugged, "That's just how it is, how I remember it at least."

"In that case," he pondered, "Go over to the jet and I'll meet you on the other side."

Midna slid back into Link's shadow and we split. I came to the corner, staring out into the stream of lava whose heat evaporated the the sweat on my arms. Back where Link was watching for me to get there, I could see Midna back out, talking to him as he fitted his iron boots onto his feet and handed his regular boots over to her.

She went back and Link stepped onto the switch, the moment it clicked he jumped, iron boots phasing into brown as he immediately took to sprinting towards me. The jet shut off. I looked hesitantly at the the rock, red and hot and still slick with lava. Before I could get myself to go, Link was pushing against my back, forcing me to take a step forward. Inside of the pipe, where the lava was being ejected from, I could hear a gurgling noise.

Our feet tangled over themselves, Link's knocking into mine, but still rushing along while I tripped over his back foot still lodged in my path. My balance tipped, body plunging lower and lower, but my hands didn't go to catch myself. I let my foot anchor me, but my knee fell into the fiery stone below, pain surging through my nerves. Although I launched back up a second afterward, I narrowly made it past the restart of the jet and collided with the ground when I got through.

I had my knee in a death grip under my hands. Link kneeled down next to me and pried my fingers away from the burn, patting around him for the water only to realize it was strapped around my chest. He grabbed it from around my neck and unscrewed the lid, pouring all of it out over the burn. The skin was scaly and shiny underneath all the dirt and rocks.

"There's no blood." Link searched his pouch and pulled out a wad of bandages, "I doubt you'll heal like that cut you got. So, might as well cover it up for now."

I leaned back onto my palms, breathing heavily into the thick humid air. "Is it bad?"

He flattened out my leg and started wrapping around the burn site, "It'll be fine, I'm sure." When it was all tied off he went looking again through his pouch before closing it. "If you feel like it's infected or hurts too much, I have a potion that should help but I don't want to waste it."

My leg pulsated waves of pain, but I shook my head and told him it was fine. He helped me up to my unsteady feet and didn't mind my leaning on him until we got to the end of the path to the back gate of the mine. We looked back at the broken bridge that had made us go along this way, cursing it in our minds, and turning forward to the next room just ahead.

Link figured his way around a giant lever and we passed through into the crater of the volcano, the open sky several hundred feet above us. The heat was combated by a draft, but it wasn't much better than the room before. Below our feet was a mixed path of metal plates and metal grates. They weren't thin enough that my boot could slip through, but it was stressful hearing the the clank of the grate shake in under our weight.

When we came to a locked door, we backtracked until we came across a turn we'd neglected, down it being a small area with a chest and five bulblins.

Link's gaze fixed on me, "Would you rather stay here or…" his irises dug into my soul, searching.

"Uh…" I caught their patrols, back and forth, their eyes reflecting the light below, backs slumped forward. They were just giant slugs, huge, giant slugs without brains...if I could only convince myself of that. "Do you think I'd get hurt?"

"Mm…" he shrugged, "Stay close behind me and you should be fine. There's a good many of them but it's nothing I couldn't take on myself."

"I'll go then."

My nerves hit the climb, grappling slowly upward, waiting to reach freefall. I hugged Link's backside like we were riding again, watching his hat swing, his fist clenched over his hilt. The bulblins growled the moment they caught sight of him, raising their weapons and charging towards him in a hoard.

A smooth, metallic ring echoed as Link unsheathed his sword and ran without warning into their swarm. Panicking, I chased after him, only to be swung at by a bulblin. My muscles tensed, numbing, a pulse shooting through my bloodstream like an electric current and manifesting in the air as a flash of red. The club in the monster's hand hit the shield hard and I felt it crack like it was my own skin.

I clung to the shield, the numb traveling further up my arms and into my chest, but before the cracks could seal themselves back up, the bulblin went back in, putting all of its weight into the next swing, utterly shattering the shield and hitting me hard in the side. I lost my balance, tumbling down into the grate which gave way under me, bending and snapping.

Link turned on his foot, all too late. If I had just cried out the first time, he could've taken this one bulblin out before this happened, but all of a sudden my hands were shooting out and gripping onto the grate as I dangled over open lava. "Oh my god! OH MY GOD!"

He stabbed through the last bulblin, its body tumbling into the growing hole and down into the pit below. By the time he got to me, I was several feet below him and the grate was ripping off. Before he sunk the grate around the hole, he ran to the platform the chest was situated on. "Midna!"

"HOLY CRAP HURRY UP!"

My fingers were sweaty and growing tired. I watched helplessly as Midna jumped out and listened to Link yell her orders I could barely comprehend. Before I could give up, the limp ponytail on the back of her head grew into a massive fist that spiraled towards me. Its fingers wrapped around my torso, squeezing the air out of my lungs while I was wrenched back up to the platform and released onto steady ground.

Legs wobbling, I fell to my hands and knees and breathed heavily into the sturdy metal floor.

"You okay?"

"Hell no!"

Link squatted down to my level and patted my back firmly. In a fit, I sat up and threw his hand off my back. "Get me out of here! I can't freaking do this! God!"

"Calm down," he reached out to rub my bruised side, however, I quickly realized it didn't hurt anymore and shrugged him off again. "It's just a messy start, it'll get easier…" The cool nature of his voice was strained, he was visibly damp from sweat and panting from the energy it took to take all of the bulblin down, all now piles of dust filtered through the grate.

I slowed my breathing down, then swore one more time. "Why haven't I _woken up?!"_

"This isn't a dream." Midna slid into my side view, but I didn't have the energy to dismiss her. "You're going to face a threat no matter what, so get yourself up already and deal with this. Even if you aren't with us, those Vinderendetta can sense each other. During the attack...they just kept coming…"

There was a look of sympathy in her one eye. I held onto it.

"Fine, but I'm not fighting anything else near lava." I sighed, trying to cast away the pressure in my head, but the tears came anyway.

Link fished out the key from the chest and we gingerly made our way back to the door. I got through the next room haphazardly, lead along like a dog in training by him. The chamber after that was cool and we almost stopped there for the day if it wasn't for my memory crashing around my skull in a tired haze.

"One of the elders is in the next room, we should make it over there first."

The loudest groan I had ever heard came out of his lips.

There was water below and a switch on the other side of a wall made of a metal grate, broken through at the bottom. My skin tingled and my hair stood up with the electricity in the air. This was compromised as Link and I dove into the water, me grabbing him as he sunk lower in his iron boots. I held onto his torso, but his hand was firmly around my waist, leaving me flustered.

The last time someone held me like that it didn't mean anything, we were just in a hype circle before competition and even now I knew it meant nothing but just to get me across. Still, I couldn't help but flinch every time he slightly adjusted his hold or looked at me. He was tangible, not the kind of unreachable thing on the other side of a screen, of a picture.

I was hurtled out of my head the moment his foot connect with the switch and a current connected with his boots. We were flipped upside down and the arm around me became two. In a flicker of a second, I was pressed against him, but he wasted no time getting to right side up. When I looked down I recognized the blue surface from the game, pulsing with static.

Link released me and I met the ground thankfully, drawing away from him into my own sphere. As he looked away towards the door, I felt the spot on my side tenderly, shaking my head.

Through the door, a small hot chamber exposed a stout Goron leaning heavily on his cane. His feet were firmly planted in an arena similar to the one at the entrance to the mines, behind him a statue with a red gem outlining his figure. There was a second level, but all of the furniture was spread around, a table here, a bed there, only on the lower floor.

The Goron's eyes lit up as we approached and stopped in front of him, towering over the old man's rocky body. "Ah…" he sang, "I heard you'd be coming." His eyes were narrow pools of blue, his age marked by wrinkles around them and a long stone beard that hang from his lower lip.

"My name's Link." Link stuck his hand out for the elder to shake which the Goron took feebly.

"They call me Gor Amoto. You must be here for the key shard." he shuffled towards a small ornate chest behind him, "It's in this box. Please, act quickly."

"About that…"

Link negotiated staying the night there which we ended up doing on the upper level.

I looked down at the wooden floor solemnly, "Do you have anything to sleep on?"

He was fishing food out of his pouch but stopped to make eye contact with me, "My bed roll doesn't fit in my pouch."

"Oh but a giant heavy ball does?" I mumbled to myself as he went back to arranging three meals in front of him. Three…

"How old are you?"

"Hm?" My mind barely registered what he'd asked but after a moment I realized, "Oh! Fifteen. I'll be sixteen in a month."

Link smiled, offering me a wooden plate of food, "I turned seventeen two months ago."

"I know," I sat down next to him, accepting the plate hesitantly, staring blankly at the strange assortment of things on it, the only thing recognizable being a small piece of bread.

"Oh right...what do you not know then?" he asked, stuffing his face immediately after speaking.

"Uh…" I frowned.

Midna slid out of Link's shadow, reaching for a plate and plopping herself across from me. "Mmm?"

With an audience, I stuttered even more, anxiously grappling for a question until one popped into my head. "What was your childhood like?"

He shook his head, "Not talking about that."

I went back to the drawing board and settled on the first thing that came to mind, "What do you like to do?"

"Art," he said simply, but it seemed to excite him because he put down his dinner and began picking through his pouch until he had a journal in his hand and tossed it to me. "You can look through that if you want. It's just full of sketches."

I turned over the cover and was met with a detailed drawing of Epona. Flipping further I found one of Ilia and then they finally began turning into sketches the moment Midna's face bore out from the page. Although they were just swift drawings, they were still highly complex. "These are amazing."

"I can do them pretty quickly." he stuffed another piece in his mouth, still talking, "Here, I'll do one of you."

"Oh no, that's okay!" I pleaded, my cheeks turning pink.

Midna giggled, her one fang hissing at me from her mouth. Link reached back for the journal, taking out a pencil and then looking up at me, a smile creeping up his face as he noticed my rosey cheeks, "Aw, it's just a sketch."

I ignored his gaze and tried to start eating, but every time I glanced his way we would make eye contact and he would just start laughing. It was a social form of torture, I was sure, I couldn't get him to look away, it was the sketchbook or me. He wasn't done by the time I finished eating and he wouldn't let me see it.

"This can't be a sketch at this rate." I marveled.

"Mhm," he muttered, "Exactly."

Midna was starting to doze off, curled up on the floor with her eye closed. Nonetheless, she spoke, "He did the same thing to me."

"You don't have to sit there silently you know." Link made a long stroke, smirking. "What else do you want to know?"

"The Vinderendetta."

Midna stirred, opening her eyes at the sound of the word as if it was a wake up call. She gritted her teeth and spat, "I don't know what they are exactly, but they used the same type of magic as you. I have a feeling one had to have brought you here. Why? I don't know. I don't…" Instead of curling up facing me, she rolled over and went to sleep, unbothered by the voices that floated in the air.

Link and I talked about how I could improve my fighting until I could barely keep my eyelids from falling down. I wanted to rest my head somewhere, but I ended up sinking into the palm of my hand and drifting off until he prodded me awake.

"What?"

In the dim light of the cavern, he laid out the sketch in my lap, shoving his pencil in his pouch as I helplessly tried to decipher what I saw. He successfully captured an expression from me I didn't remember pulling, my eyebrows were drawn, my lips still. The sketch of me gazed into my eyes like it was about to kill. My heart started beating faster, thudding hard in my ears.

Link's fingers reached over and turned the page to another, softer image, a smile. My hair fell in front of my face elegantly, looking nothing like the actual mess on top of my head. I frowned.

"What's wrong?" he cocked his head.

"They're beautiful, but they aren't me." I shut the journal, stopping the feeling of dread from reaching my heart, "I'm shy."

He took it back, flipping to the two pages and sighing, "I mean, I guess so, but I've seen these looks in your eyes. Granted maybe I just thought they were something more than fear but was wrong."

"It was sweet of you…" I admitted, "I'm sorry."

"Why don't you get some sleep."

I nodded and moved away from him before lying down for the night, restlessly whisked away to a world governed beyond my control.


	5. I Can

**Another :clap: chapter :clap: thank you for reading on, I thought I was going to finish this sooner but I had a few hurdles to jump through this week. The flow seems kind of wonky to me in this, so I apologize if that translates to your reading.**

 **Nonetheless, enjoy!**

* * *

There was a whisper in my head, deep and rich. It called out to me, playing my blood vessels like strings on a harp, humming in my chest. "Maizy…" My unconscious brain asked who it was, chasing the humming, chasing my name. It found no one, it found nothing.

My eyelids shot open and I sat up in a sweat. The lights were dim like before, but I felt rested, for how long I'd slept, I had no clue. Link was sleeping against the wall, head on a bunched up blanket. I crawled over to him and shook his shoulder until he jumped awake, panting.

"Oh, sorry…" I pulled away, reading his wide eyes and shoulders that moved up and down.

He rubbed his forehead, taking in slow breaths, ignoring me. With one last exhale, he stood up and started pacing back and forth. I was tempted to ask if he was okay, but was too anxious to take him out of his stupor. Abruptly, he stopped pacing, looking down at something. His fingers found their way to the spot on his pants where he had wiped my blood off of his hand.

Those two diamond eyes gazed back at me, "Maizy?"

"Link?" I got up and took a step towards him, "Are...are you okay?"

"I'm fine." he came closer, but while my heart jumped in thinking it was to me, he kneeled down and woke up Midna instead. It ended with a, "Let's get going," and there was no more sign of what just happened.

Indeed, he cheered up instead and got to training me immediately. "Boo!"

"Jesus!" My body instinctively tensed and shot out a shivering red curtain, weak. "Ugh, I'm not looking forward to this."

Midna's face jumped out at me too, which prompted a more violent response, a stronger shield, but a more petrified me.

"Stop!" I screamed, stumbling behind a cackling and giggling Link and Midna who headed for the door. "I'm too tired for this!"

The room passed it was the same one as before, just higher up. Midna disappeared and Link turned around to me, "So...is your magic stuff always electric?"

I sighed, and shrugged, "I don't know. Probably?"

He gestured to the blue floor near us, a long strip leading to a door on the other side...always leading to a door. There was nothing that said I couldn't try, so I stepped on it and tried to repeat all the steps in my head, the tensing, the numbing, the flowing, which worked but only for a moment.

My heart fell into my stomach and I stepped off before I could will myself to try again. "It's not worth the time-"

"Take your boots off."

"But-"

"Maybe it'll help." Link took out his iron boots, waiting for me to obey his orders, but when he put them on the ground, he noticed I was still standing there. "What is it?"

"I can't hold it for long enough." I kicked a rock over with my toe, flexing them underneath the leather they sat in.

Link's fingers were in his hair, "Just try?"

I sat down and slipped off the thick boots, tossing them into his unexpecting hands and watching them tumble into the dirt. The ground was sharp and warm underneath my skin, soothing my sore feet. Back on the blue surface, I could feel the electricity clearly and as I imagined a current flowing through my blood, I attached to that field at my toes. When I went numb, a crackle of blue static stuck me to the surface and before it fell away, I forced that flow of energy to cycle. It was enough to keep me there and I took my first confident step anxiously forward.

"Yes!" Link shoved his boots on and trudged after me. I let him lead the way to attack two torch slugs stuck to the wall, then we ran out into a new room and gazed up at the ceiling. An expanse of blue stretched out before us.

There were many moments in the hours that came where I could tell Link was frustrated with how innately poor I was at learning about something that caused me so much dread. He was constantly shoving me this way and that with comments that reminded me of the little fairy from Ocarina of Time, but full of much more aggression and, "If you seriously don't listen to me you'll die."

In between these moments, I couldn't help but enjoy making little attacking gestures to build up my consistency. It was a world of green that Link said brought out my eyes. Midna came out to talk when there was low action, making snarky remarks and generally enjoying herself and her quips. To be honest, I enjoyed them too.

"So do you have family back home?"

Link occasionally asked questions like this, prodding out information one piece at a time I otherwise would be too nervous to ramble on about.

"Yeah, just my parents and three brothers." I bit my cheek as their faces sprung up in my mind...and what were they thinking? I was dead? "And two cats."

"'Just,'" he laughed, turning away from a puzzle he was trying to figure out, "I live with no one."

"I'm sorry," I pointed to a switch he hadn't noticed to move his attention away from me again, but he followed my finger and then came back.

"Sorry about last night, it's personal stuff." he looked to the ground, moving back to the puzzle without another word.

There was an outside portion of the mines, but when we got there it was noon and the sun beat down on us, making the water rooms much more amiable. A lot of running finally brought us to the next elder at what I had to guess was sundown, but I couldn't figure how long it had been since we were outside.

It was a chamber similar to the other elder's, the statue behind him highlighted by a green gem this time. Engravings covered the walls in a language that didn't look Hylian. We climbed up the elder's arena and Link quickly introduced himself.

"Ah yes! They told me you'd be here soon." the elder laughed, "I'm Gor Ebizo, there should be a chest over there with one of the shards, yes." He gestured to a corner, outstretching one of his lanky arms. Gor Ebizo was hunched over, the rocks on his back arched on him like an armadillo shell. His face was droopy and his lower lip stretched out from his face. Every time I saw these creatures I couldn't help but stare.

"In these mines we have guarded a bow for generations, left by the hero of old. I suggest finding it as soon as you can." Gor Ebizo waved us off towards the chest.

It turned out the chest was opposite of where he said it was. Nonetheless we grabbed the shard and were on our way. Outside of the door, Link stopped me, "Who's this, 'they,' that's been telling them we were coming?"

"Oh, uh…" I tried to think of who it would be, but I didn't remember there ever being anyone who would send out the message, they just knew. "Maybe there was someone ahead of us?"

"But all of that stuff was locked." Link looked down into the room below.

"Maybe he had a key and locked it again?"

Link shook his head, "Whatever," he started towards the blue strip on the wall, "I guess we'll find out if we have to."

After we crossed over to a platform below, we headed through a door that was barred off behind us. Across the room there was a giant Goron, twice the size of the usual ones, sitting lazily in front of the exit. It was broiling there, a million degrees at least and not much more. I followed behind Link, but as my foot hit the metal bridge connecting the entrance to a huge magnetic semi sphere, I recoiled from the burn. My cry echoed to the Goron, and he stood up in alarm.

"You! Puny humans, I was warned you'd come here!"

"Warned?!" I backed away from the bridge.

Link whipped around to me, "Get on my back, quick." I hesitated, "I'll carry you over!"

"Link, he wants to kill us!" I shouted.

"And you're going to help me fight him, now come on!"

The Goron's voice boomed from the other side of the room, like the volcano around us was erupting, "Plotting to murder me, are you? We don't trust magic here, it's what got our patriarch possessed after all…"

A face froze in my mind, a picture captured in time. The Goron who saw me playing around with my magic before we ran inside the mines, of course he would warn this guy of all people...of course…

I jumped up onto Link's back, squished against his shield, narrowing my eyes at the Goron. He ran over to the sphere hung precariously from chains, settling there to drop me down to the cool blue surface. "We're not here to fight you, we're trying to save Darbus!" Link cried.

The Goron smirked, "Oh yeah? Only a true hero is worthy of the treasure I guard. If you are that such hero, you'll beat me without issue." He leapt into the air, coming down hard into the sphere and snapping the chains that held it up. We plummeted down into the lava below as I screamed and embraced Link in shock. The rock we stood on sank into the lava below, casting up waves of scorching liquid into the air.

Link wasted no time lurching forward, drawing his sword as he went. The Goron was heavily armoured except for an exposed spot on his paint covered stomach. His arms were nearly always positioned in front of it except for when he attacked. I watched, stationary, as Link caught onto this and slashed a huge gouge into his skin that dripped a fine line of red blood. It wasn't enough to stagger him as he came right back down on Link, sending him flying into the ground.

A blow straight to the chest, he barely composed himself enough to stand back up, narrowly dodging another swipe. I stepped towards them, measuring their movements, a rally back and forth of dodges and slashes and punches, then it became clear to me.

Kneeling down to the ground, I pressed my palm into the floor and waited for the Goron to charge up another punch. The second I saw him raise his arm, I tensed and shot out a bolt. A crackle of green surged across the ground, flickering past in a snap until it caught on the Goron, paralyzing him. Link took the opportunity swiftly and dealt a volley of blows into his skin. When the electricity wore off, the Goron instinctively curled up and Link made the connection instantly.

He jumped, brown phasing into an iron glint, and grabbed hold of the Goron's arms. A cry split through the air, tearing past the thick heat. The source's face was bright red, his muscles taught, what it moved gradually gaining momentum. It happened quickly, the Goron sailing into the lava below, Link collapsing, and the Goron tumbling back into the arena, burnt and dripping with blood.

I looked between both and ran to Link. He tried to push himself back up, but fell into the ground again, coughing. Midna flew out, leaping for his pouch and pulling out a bottle filled with an opaque red liquid. She forced it into his sweaty hands but he barely noticed it, sluggishly peeking at it through narrow eyes. He brought it to his lips, drinking slowly until it was gone and he fell to the floor again.

Nonetheless, Midna sighed in relief, "He'll be fine in a few hours."

"Was it that punch to the stomach?" I asked her.

She nodded, "I heard his ribs crack. It's amazing what this kid can take." Her silhouette turned to look at the Goron laid out on the floor, then me, "Can you take care of that guy?"

I agreed, only because I wanted to stop looking at Link's bloody face. The Goron shied away from me as I approach, but as a wince took over him, he froze. "I don't want to hurt you."

His helmet had bounced off when he landed leaving his large round head exposed. "I'm sorry." The Goron's breath was ragged, "I'm a fool for listening to him. He's nothing but trouble." He raised his voice suddenly, booming, "Eitti, raise the lava!"

Four hatches opened at each side of the chamber, pouring out fiery liquid. The sphere began to rise slowly and once we reached the top, the Goron heaved himself up and headed for where we had entered without another word.

I went back to Link who was sitting up now, holding a rag to his nose, stains of blood all over it. When I stopped, he asked me how my knee was doing.

"My knee? What about you? You're a mess."

He muttered meekly, "I'll be fine, it was nothing."

Midna chimed in, "Maybe, but you're taking it easy for the rest of the day. And that's a command from your master."

"I'm not your dog."

They began bickering, but I tuned it out. The noise of popping lava filled my ears, dulling the cacophony of raised voices behind me. We ended up spending at least an hour there, waiting for Link to regain his strength. When he was ready, he limped himself to the exit, entering the temple once again, escaping the dream that was rest.

A bow and quiver was stowed away in a chest that he opened with excruciating difficulty. When he went to test out the string, the strain was outlined on his face. There was nothing I could do to stop him, I knew, so I watched him nock an arrow and strenuously release it at a rope tying up the bridge leading out of the room.

It missed.

"Oh."

Link sighed, "My arms are sore."

I picked at the hem of my shorts, biting back my lip as he tried again, set up, and missed. Hesitantly, I stopped him, "Do you want help?"

He slouched, allowing for my words to sit there on a platter, waiting to be picked up. Finally, he dropped one hand from his bow and offered it to me, "I'll aim."

As I took it from him, I shifted into a place, but the moment I tried to lift it up, a chorus of no's cried out from behind me. "First of all," he redirected my arms and then started kicking my feet further apart, "hold that position." I stretched my neck to see what he was doing, met with an empty space on the floor and a sudden arrow being wiggled into my grasp.

Link appeared in my peripheral, clutching the front of the bow over my grasp and slowly elevating my aim. My eyes drifted over to him and we met there briefly before he let go of my hand, redirecting my chin to the ropes holding up the bridge. After a few more commands, "Two fingers, not a full fist," "Eye on the target," he told me to let go.

It soared out of the bow with a snap and went careening through the air into the rope. A ripping noise was overrun by the screeching of hinges as the bridge thudded down. Link took the bow out of my grip and switched his shield out to store it on his back, throwing the hunk of metal into his pouch and heading to go across the bridge.

"Not even a thank you?" Midna jumped out at him.

"I'm too exhausted for this." he pleaded, staring her down, "Leave me alone."

He left her behind, stepping onto the bridge as his feet clunked on its rigid surface. Midna elbowed me when he was out of earshot, leaning in to whisper, "He tends to be grumpy when he's in pain, it'll wear off."

"Hurry up over there!" Link called.

Midna flashed me a wink and floated on ahead. I stayed a moment longer, grappling at the feeling of holding such a powerful bow, watching that arrow fly. If only I could be that free, then maybe he wouldn't be scowling at me so fiercely.

There wasn't much improvement to his mood in the hours that followed. He rarely used his bow except when it was required to get through. The only thing that kept me any real company was my magic that tumbled out of my fingertips whenever I thought to use or practice it.

I nearly fell over myself when Link opened a door and the last elder sat meditating in the room ahead. My limbs were stiff and my back ached to lean against something, anything. On top of that my mind was numb from thinking so much, irksome to say something out loud, to release everything buzzing around in there.

The last Goron elder was the youngest looking one, painted head to toe in purple and yellow. As we entered, he opened his huge purple eyes and smiled a toothy grin, lacking a few teeth here and there. His voice was creaky, as if with each syllable he stepped on a floorboard, "You've made it!"

Link took a deep breath, then the slightest grin turned up on his lips, "Bless the Goddess, finally!"

We stood before him, drenched in sweat and smeared with dirt. The elder simply laughed at us and pulled out the small chest he'd been keeping close by, "Gor Liggs, pleased to have you assist."

I eyed the key shard, its jagged blue edges glowing in the light. Link pocketed it and gave a slight bow, "Thank you, where can we reach Darbus?"

The elder shut his eyes, humming to himself, "He's close, and he's getting angrier. You best hurry before it's too late."

An arrow had been released, feet charging, the slap of my toes and the thud of Link's boots, it didn't cease. Link had a renewed vigor, he shot with precision and didn't blame his trips on his weakened body. I began to stumble in his shadow, but stayed firmly behind him even if it meant I did nothing but watch while I caught up. It was when we entered a snaking room, path weaved around a pool, that he stopped and let out a breath.

"This is it." I fell against a railing, staring into the lava far below. "I remember this room. This is it."

Link merely nodded and took out his bow, aiming at a bulblin situated on top of a metal scaffold. The arrow flew out of his fingertips and struck the bulblin in the head, not uttering a sound as it fell dead. He got another one, then, seeing no more, started down the path marked out.

I watched him go, frowning at the metal plating layered over the ground. Suddenly, he came jogging back, "Sorry," and tossed me my boots. After I threw them on, we went sprinting down, welcoming the breeze it made across our skin.

One more bridge stood in our way, similar to the one from where we found the bow. Link drew an arrow and severed the string, jumping back as the bridge fell away like a curtain to reveal a horde of bulblins. A flurry of brown clad figures swarmed in on us. Link drew his blade and began stabbing several through the chest, kicking their limp bodies away when he was finished with them.

My chest filled with a long breath, and hesitantly, drained of all sense of reality, I leapt into the commotion. Flashes of green danced out of my hands like bolts of electricity that tore through flesh and severed bone. The ragged beings bared their teeth and threw themselves around with each swing, never enough to connect. One by one I took each opportunity to attack them until one after another they fell and the horde was no more. Around my feet were piles of dust and splatters of blood.

I let the air out of my chest.

Link and I trudged over the bridge, swallowed by a passage that opened up to a massive circular door, locked in heavy chains. I looked at him and he nodded, pulling out the three key shards. They slid together easily, clicking. He walked to the lock and jammed the key into it, flying back as it rapidly spun on its own. The lock clattered to the floor as the door rolled aside.

The chamber on the other side was dark except for a dim blue that illuminated a hulking ashy figure in the middle. My adrenaline beat harder through my veins, pulsing in my neck and my feet. Nerves wove their way like thread through the adrenaline, lacing my stomach with sickness. I no longer felt in control of myself the longer I stared at the passive beast, but when a hand fit their fingers into mine, I fought for it back.

"We can do this." Link raised our joined fist between us, eyes locked on the beast ahead.

"I can do this," I echoed, squeezing his hand.

He let go and together, we marched into darkness.

The door rolled shut behind us, locking away the light from outside. A faint blue was emitted by the floor in between stone debris and divots. As we moved forward, its magnetic surface became clear and I took my boots off before we got any closer. Link accepted them, stopping in his tracks to put them away and look up at the behemoth in front of us.

It was easily twice our height or more, chained to the floor and walls by the wrists and ankles. There was no skin on the creature, instead it was enveloped in an ashy shadow that moved like a thick liquid around it. On its head was a rock face, a dormant eye in the middle of its forehead, lower teeth protruding over the edges of it. The eye ignited, iris a scorching orange and pupil paper thin. Underneath, two orbs illuminated, as if it were waking up.

I stared into the fiery orbs, frozen. The behemoth tried to move, but caught by its chains, it stopped, shaking them. Crying out, it ripped and pulled at its constraints, then, the room got hot. From its ashy coat, fire burst, engulfing its body in flames.

My heart leapt into my throat and Link retreated to a distance, fixing an arrow into his bow as he ran. I ran to the wall at the creature's left, stepping over sharp rocks and rubble. As I crossed over, the beast ripped its chains from the wall and I wandered into the line of fire, whipped by hot metal to the face.

I kept running, cradling my face in my hands, tripping on a rock into the floor. The sound of an arrow being released resonated in the chamber and tearing flesh echoed after it. I uncovered my eyes, seeing the situation unfold in front of me. Link panicked, scanning the room around him. My mouth opened to yell at him, but another breath came right back in to smother my words.

The behemoth stumbled forward, kicking up dirt and casting away rubble, its chains heavy behind. I saw Link run out of the way, but his eyes were still on the wrong thing, cast up not down. Reluctantly, against the complaints of every muscle in my body, I pushed myself from the floor and ran to the chain links. Grabbing it in my hands, I bit back the exhaustion in my veins, connecting myself to the floor with a shock. Unfortunately, my arms weren't so stiff and the moment the beast lurched forward, the entire chain was ripped out of my grasp.

"Maizy!"

"What?!" I screamed.

Our conversation was cut short by another roar, rattling the chamber. Link nocked an arrow, aimed, and overshot.

"Come on!" Midna floated up next to him, staring him down as he readied another shot and not letting down despite how close the creature got by the time he released the arrow.

The beast scrambled forward in a frenzy, Link and I taking the opportunity to make a run for the chains again. Our hands met at the same link. He jumped, slamming back down into the floor in his iron boots. I attached myself to the blue below me and tugged, nearly lurching forward until Link secured it. The beast went tumbling down.

Link rushed to its head, digging his sword into its skull and yanking it out the moment it moved to stand up. I breathed hard, wiping away the sweat dripping off of my forehead. Part of my brain went calm, buzzing with adrenaline while the other half begged for me to keep running, so I did. The last arrow was nocked.

Its screech tore at my ear drums but didn't reach further than that, I slid my hands over the burning, rusty surface of the chains and grabbed hold firmly, jogging with it until Link came behind me with his iron boots and pulled. In frustration, the behemoth kicked, sending the chain out of Link's grasp with me flying into the ground ahead. Brushing myself off, I leapt back up and gripped again, waiting for Link, then pulling. In my ear, I could hear a scream growing louder, urging my heartbeat into my head, pounding.

My limbs went numb, pulsing waves of energy coaxing them to give out no feeling at all. I let it go, pushing out an electric wave that raced along the chain, striking the behemoth's ankle. It stopped resisting for a just a second, but it was enough to topple him over, the gargantuan monster colliding with the hard ground.

Link dropped the chain, his iron boots fading to brown as he traveled like a bullet to its eye. Drawing his sword, he raised it high into the air, as if ready to lay the blade to rest, and dropped it into the awaiting pupil staring back at him as the body it was attach to screamed.

There was a crackling, popping, spitting, then as the light in the room dimmed from orange to blue, nothing but cold traveled through the air. I took a step towards Link, but at my movement, the creature's shadowy coat was expelled into the air as inky black squares. They lingered there, tainting the cold atmosphere with malice.

Midna left Link's shadow, floating to the middle of the room. Her arms outstretched, she shut her eye and let out a breath. The squares, as if being sucked into a black hole, concentrated between her palms, amalgamating into a structure resembling the helmet atop her head. It was opaque, a blue tinted stone that had been carved with eyes and curls. On the back was a spine like piece, swirls jutting out the back.

"One more," she opened her eye, tracing the carving with her finger, "Zant...Zelda...we're coming."

Where the behemoth had once fallen sat a passed out Goron roughly the same size as what possessed him beforehand. Link checked on him, the Goron sitting up groggily as he rubbed his back, then noticed us.

"What happened?" his browline raised.

"You were being possessed, but it's over now. You should go back to the village as soon as you can." Link bowed to him, hand over his heart, "They're worried about you, Darbus."

Darbus scowled at him, but took his word and left the chamber. When the door shut behind him, Link turned to me, blank, then sprinting.

"Uh!"

Arms wrapped around me before I had a moment to protest, squeezing the air I needed to clear my head out of my lungs. He stepped back, holding me by the shoulders with a smile, "Look at you!"

"I'm covered in dirt." I frowned, looking down at my bandaged knee.

Link rolled his eyes, "At least you're here," he said, "You're getting the hang of things."

"If you say so," I sighed, his hands leaving me to highfive Midna.

"Let's get out of here." Link dusted off his pants as Midna shot a black projectile into the ground.

A small geometric splotch bloomed, a shade of black that reflected no light overlayed by blue lines tracing squares. From the middle, stripes of blue swirled inward. Link looked at me, frowning, "Are you sure that blue thing didn't look like this?" he asked.

I shook my head.

"Oh well…" he stepped onto the swirl, his feet enveloped in shadow and his hand outstretched to me.

In the darkness, he shined a light of hope. I took his hand in mine, stepping into the portal as Midna waved her arms. A biting cold overtook my body, blinding my eyes in blue. When I came too, the scene was no longer a dank chamber, but a peaceful spring at nighttime. No one stirred.

A voice, gentle, spoke out of the waters, "Lanayru," then trickled out and faded into the night sky.

Link and I headed to the inn to sleep, remarking about how nice it felt to be out of there, into the cool breeze of Kakariko. I practically fell into bed and despite Link's eyes staying alert, I let mine drift, forgetting the events of the past three days. They were offered up into the world of sleep and I didn't bother to stop it from relieving those memories from me.

In the morning a bright sun shone on my dirtied face, picking out every particle that wasn't supposed to be on my skin. It was hard to care, there were plenty of other things I had to care about now.


	6. I Will

**Hello again! This chapter includes a lot of different events and it was a bit hard to conclude because I have a habit on ending a chapter when they go to sleep and I don't like that. But anyway, enough of criticizing myself.**

 **PS: I have a busy schedule ahead, so if the update doesn't come for quite some time, I apologize, but a girl's gotta take her SAT and write her research paper and visit them colleges and AH.**

 **I enjoyed introducing a new character in this chapter and I hope you'll enjoy too.**

* * *

The warmth of the sun was cool on my skin after the constant battering from being surrounded by lava. Link woke up after me, sore and whining. We found a place to bathe, taking turns in a secluded spring until the sky had borne the brunt of it's light and the day tipped into afternoon. The gentle cradling of the its light soon tightened its grip as Link and I met back up, strolling down the streets of Kakariko.

"Lanayru is covered in twilight," Link was saying, "You know what happens to people in there, right?"

I nodded, running my fingers through my damp, tangled hair, "Yeah...but I can't just stay here."

"I'll come back for you."

At each side of me were houses in tatters, collapsed or scarred by long claw marks on its siding. Their splinters were spears wielded against my presence, but when I saw Link, their alien features fizzled into a state of familiarity. "I want to go with you."

He gave out a deep sigh, crossing his arms, "Fine, but if you can't see me, promise you'll head straight for Castle Town. You know where that is, right?"

I bit the inside of my cheek, trying to map out how to get there in my head. There was a rough path in my brain, but if that part of Hyrule was bigger than I remembered, than I don't think I could handle trekking all that way on foot. In the original game, Hylians and humans took the forms of spirits, unable to see certain shadow creatures. Of course one of those shadow beings was Link himself. If I was wrong in my assumption that because I was suddenly different I would be able to see him, then I would be as good as stranded.

"I don't know," I looked away from him to the spring at the end of the street, bathed in warm light.

He didn't follow my gaze, but kept staring at me, a somber expression taking him over before he quickly found interest in the other side of the road. "You'll be able to see the monsters, but I can follow you until you get to town if you want."

"I'll think about it while you say your goodbyes."

We both stopped at the end of the road by the cement building and in front of the spring. He agreed and vanished behind a wooden door. It was there, twiddling my thumbs, that I realized something and nearly had a heart attack.

The rock I destroyed…

Without it Zora's Domain would remain frozen and then what? Link was supposed to break the ice with that stupid rock. In a panic I made up my mind that I would go out alone if I couldn't see him and try to fix it before he ran into any issue. By the time he came out, I had brushed off the shaking in my chest and was ready to go.

We took Epona out of town and into the grand expanse of field where we'd encountered the King. Twilight overcame it like the day we'd fought there, dipping the grass in gold and the sky in orange. I held onto Link tightly, embracing him through every bump and leap. The Bridge of Eldin clipped underneath the horse's hooves, tinted from the sky, glowing. Below, a great expanse of darkness stretched for miles, disappearing into the horizon, cut off somewhere by something.

As we rode over the bridge, the ground began to rumble, Link halted Epona and looked back at the bridge, freezing at the sight of the stone crumbling from the center, turning into black dust. The wind carried it off, amalgamating it into a clump of dirt and shooting it off into the sky where a red portal looked down upon the rest of the bridge.

The air went still, cold until there was a distinct movement, three figures falling from the portal towards the bridge below. Link jumped off, drawing his sword. Hesitating, I slid my way to the ground and ran after him.

Three shadow beasts were slumped over on the ground, piles of dark flesh and red pulsing veins. They stood up on hind legs, dragging their lanky arms in the dirt. There was little time to make a move as they hobbled over on their uneven frames.

Link charged and stabbed through the first beast, running back into the field after the creature's emaciated body tumbled into the ravine. I stumbled into place beside him.

"Attack at the same time." he'd barely glanced at me, but the moment he moved, I lurched toward the one on the left. A wave of energy flew passed my nerves like a wave of light, erupting from my numb fingertips like a bullet into the shadow beast that raised its hand to scratch. The creature had no face, only a square blank head stamped with a circular symbol, but it still screamed when the bolt of green tore through its chest. Its friend died without a noise, the one whose blood was on my hands suffering until its last dying cry was cut off. Its body was torn apart into inky black, flying up and out of sight.

I looked up into the portal above, its red light morphing to blue. Cupping my hands over my ears, I walked away.

Link caught up and mounted Epona before I could, helping me up into the saddle with his hand. Before he urged her onward, he looked back at me and smiled, "I-good job."

I gave him a nod and wrapped my arms around his torso, losing myself in the warm fabric of his tunic and the smell of forest, subtle on his clothes. After passing into a valley the sun gave up its light to the the curtain of twilight draped over the rest of Hyrule. It was suddenly dim, the sky a deep black. We banked into a turn, met with a dead end marked by a wall of utter noire.

Epona reared up on her hind legs, refusing to go further. Link and I jumped off, making our way to the wall, its surface revealing the intense pattern of lines making turns and loops and eyes. Midna flew out, barely visible against the curtain. She yawned, "Now for the fun part."

Link turned to me, "You're still going alone?"

"Mhm, we'll meet at Telma's bar, you should know where that is by the time you're done." I shrugged, "I'll be fine I think."

"Our little Vinderendetta is growing up so fast," Midna giggled, "Let's get going before that confidence goes away."

Link hugged me tightly, his hair grazing my ear, then backed away, "Don't do anything stupid, okay?"

"I'll try," I told him, cracking a weak grin.

With a thumbs up from Link, Midna phased through the wall. It went quiet and as we waited, he put his arm around my shoulder. Gazing on into the eyes looking back, he tightened his grip. Within another moment, a huge orange fist forced its way through the wall, wrapping around us in an iron grip. I screamed as my feet left the ground and the image before me vanished. My head went cold, dull throbbing. By the time I came to, the sky was a misty grey and I was on my hands and knees, alone.

Far off in the field, monsters roamed, baring the weapons. Link was nowhere among them, but as I sat up further, I felt something poke me in the side. There was nothing there, just a patch of grass precariously flattened as if it had been sat on.

I stuck out my hand towards it, feeling only air whisk past my fingers until soft fur tickled them. Smoothing it out, I stared into the empty space in front of me. Abruptly, the fur disappeared and the grass straightened back out again. Knowingly, I stood back up and started down the path, trapped in the musings of a stranded girl.

Zora's Domain was to the north, atop a mountain where a river flowed out from. There was a way to get there from Northern Hyrule Field, but it was blocked off by a boulder. That wasn't the real issue though, it was more so getting there. I had to resort to killing one monster which slashed me across the side, but the others I ran from. It was largely an uphill trek, ended only by a steep incline, a cliff. Wedged into a hole in the cliff face was a huge rock.

I focused for a moment, pressing my palms into the cool stone, arms going tight and numb. They relaxed, shooting flashes of green that crumbled little of the rock. Trying again, I let it pulse for longer, throwing it out faster, breaking up stone but not enough to pass through. Defeated, I stood back.

 _Focus._

A voice echoed in my head, bold and deep. I shook out my hands, a little flustered, and tried one last time. It flowed through me naturally, I didn't will it to follow my rules, letting its numb patch itself over me like a quilt. When it was ready to go, I relaxed, a bright tangle of green striking through the rubble and tossing aside debris.

On the other side of the opening was a stone path outlined in blue dyed tiles and railings. I stepped through the rock into a frigid air, a wintery cool shivering my bones. Down the path were several offshoots, open doors to empty rooms or tunnels leading into darkness. As I kept on, up and up further, the voice came back, thick.

 _Look to your right._

To the right was tunnel that lead out to an open area, grey and frosted over. Underneath a bare tree was a curled up figure shaking in the frozen grass. I glanced back to the waterfall between the path and overhang, a cascade of pure ice, then turned to walk through the tunnel. The closer I got to the figure, the fluffier it seemed, a little baby, a kitten.

I leaned down, scooping up the kitten into my arms, its fur a pattern of whites, blondes, and blacks, a calico. It was a female and started purring in my warm embrace.

 _Her name's Creota._

She curled up in my lap, shutting her precious eyes and drifting off to sleep. I stroked her little head, then spoke to the voice that was talking to me, "Hello?" There was no response, nor was there anyone around. My heart began to beat faster, but I pressed on, "Where are you?"

 _I'm here._

I looked down at the kitten who didn't stir, but it seemed the voice noticed my gesture and corrected me.

 _I'm not the cat, I'm in your head, idiot._

"Eh-" I stood up with the kitten, trying to soothe away the sick feeling in my stomach, "Who are you?"

 _Vox, I'm what brought you here. Don't be alarmed._

"Alarmed?! You-" realizing I was talking to nothing, I stopped, hoping maybe I was just going mad and if I calmed down it would go away.

-I?

"Why did you bring me here then? And why are you only talking now?!"

Vox held off for a moment, leaving me to my panic before he explained, _It's a long story, let's just say you were my only way of hiding...forever. The Vinderendetta are nearly extinct, and without me, well they'll die off. But they're still a threat, so trust me on this, I need you to stay with Link in case any Vinderendetta become too much for him. They aren't natural to this world, they already killed the Hero of Time early._

"What are they?"

 _Dimensional travelers who settled here during the Hylian Civil War. But now, do you trust me?_

I began pacing around the area, breathing out chilled puffs of air visible like clouds. Again, I asked my unanswered question, "Why now?"

 _What? Oh...I only figured out how to talk now, if you give me some time, I'll make sure you get all of the abilities of a regular Vinderendetta, but I had to get the basics first, healing, attacking, and talking. You're not upset, right?_

"Upset?! I don't belong here! Why me?!"

 _You liked Zelda._

I breathed out hard, stopping my circle and heading back towards the path. My outward composure was bursting at the seams, anxiety leaking out from the wrinkles in my forehead. It wouldn't take much to cut through my skin and bleed out from my beating heart.

On my way up, Vox tried to get my attention again, but I didn't respond to him.

 _Look, once you're done waltzing around here, you'll be able to return home no problem. And the best part? I'll be gone by then._

The kitten, asleep in my arms, stretched. I hiked up a set of stairs, all in peaceful silence until he butted back into my thoughts.

 _Okay fine, have it your way. I guess I wasted my time accessing your thoughts like this. They're just loud white noise anyway, I'd be glad to disconnect._

"Shut up! I just want my brain back, shut up!"

 _Relax, I can't hear your thoughts, like I said they're just whi-_

"Please."

There wasn't a fiber in my being that was prone to snapping like that, especially to people I didn't know, but I couldn't help but let the words roll out over my tongue. With it out of my system, I took a deep breath and kept going.

He didn't say anything for awhile until I reached the top of the mountain and stalked into an area just outside of Zora's Domain. The sky had gotten gloomier, dark like storm clouds.

 _Look I'm sorry it was you, but I didn't think I'd find someone who knew about this place and when I did I took that opportunity. You'll understand in due time._

"So you stalked me?"

He was silent, allowing for my voice to echo. This time I didn't quiver as I took a step away towards the Domain.

 _It was a small town, I didn't have to look that hard._

"Whatever…" I conceded, "I might as well get over it."

 _Atta girl, thinking logically._

I sighed, holding Creota to my chest as I jogged up step after step until I came to a cliff overlooking the water below. Close by was the opening, a faint blue maw full of ice. The cobblestone walk was cold under my feet, leading to the mouth of the ornate domain. Stone curved structures outlined the frozen river, tracing their origins to pillars lining around the central pool. Unlike how I remembered, there was no webbing between the columns, only an open view of the clear ice.

As I stepped closer, the details of a hundred Zoras became distinct, their finned feet and arms, skin a faint grey in the winter like cold. Many held spears or wore armour, but most were stopped, reaching for the surface in vain with nothing in their hands but hope.

 _Are you planning on saving them?_

"Of course," I placed Creota on the stone and clunked down the stairs, taking a cautious step onto the ice. My foot firmly in place, I started across to the center, only to be stopped as three shadow beasts fell from the sky. I gazed up, catching a red portal outlined in grey above. Around me, scarlet pillars materialized, shooting out transparent walls to each other and caging me in.

The three beasts stood up on their mangled limbs, trudging in on me at all sides. I took in their forms, stuck in the middle of their triangle. On my right, I stepped closer, readying a shot I could release and then make a run away from the other two. It approached, hobbling over on all fours until it was just in reach enough to grab me. I focused my energy out, a sharp blade piercing through the creature's chest.

 _Behind you!_

As the first one slumped to the ground, long fingers grasped around my neck and clenched. My body attempted to take two huge breaths before it caught up to what was happening. Heart racing, feet hovering, I viciously clawed at the beast's hands, mustering a fuzzy flow of energy into my limbs. With every second my head thumped louder, losing track of where that small energy flowed. I held onto that dim movement, throwing it out into the void between me and the monster.

Its grip released and I coughed for air, hitting the hard ice with my knees. Just a foot from me its limp body was sprawled out on the ground. The one left standing let out an ear piercing scream, its companions rising back up into their hunched over stances. I looked up, up into the dangling appendages hanging from the beast's head, crawling away on my hands and knees.

Fingers clasped around my ankle and I lost traction on the ice, dragged across its frigid surface. The beast lifted me up to its face, a blank slate, examining me with invisible eyes. I was upside down, hanging by one leg, staring down a creature I had only seen with detail in my worst nightmares. On each of its sides the other two appeared, blocking the surroundings except for the ice and the Zoras below.

 _Maizy, do something._

I shut my eyes, blocking out their images and grabbing hold of the energy in my bloodstream, redirecting its course to my fingertips. My limbs went tight and numbed, a sharp wave that overtook my whole torso until it suddenly turned into pain. The energy crashed out, a sword thrust into the ice, tearing it apart as I heard a dim crackle grow quieter, further away, then silence.

My eyes opened, the beasts' faces still crowding my vision, but the two on the side seemed to have backed away. The silence was torn by another crackle, crescendoing until the very ice under their feet shook. I fell and landed on top of a long, widening rip, water beginning to gurgle up from somewhere underneath. When I looked back up, the beasts were stumbling, every step back that they took puncturing the ice and erupting water into the air like geysers. Before I could get back up, the sheer ice underneath me gave way.

The rest was a blur. I shut my eyes, whipped around ceaselessly by the warmer waters until something once again grabbed me. Its arms were smooth and it fought against the current pulling us out of the domain. We broke the surface and I felt my body hit stone. When I came to, a Zora sat watching.

I jumped up, looking around at the collection of Zoras washed up on the sides of the domain, coughing, passed out, or tending to one another, then found the portal in the sky, a deep turquoise. A small kitten plodded over to me and sat at my side, coaxing a raised brow from the Zora at my side. She was panting, but held herself upright.

"Thank you," I breathed.

She shook her head, "You were the first thing I saw."

"Thank you," I repeated, getting up onto my feeble legs and scooping up Creota into my arms. After saying, 'thank you,' one more time, I started away. However, as I was about to leave the chaos of those recovering, an elegant voice called me back.

"Wait!"

I flicked around, met with the transparent figure of a woman, a pulsing light that only gave off enough to reveal her ornate dress, draped over her body like a curtain obstructing her legs. The jewelry on her chest glimmered gold, her skin and face deep salmon pinks. Her appearance stunned me.

"I must thank you for saving my people."

"Uh...you're welcome," holding Creota closer to my chest, I begged for the conversation to be short.

Her eyes sank, "I was their queen, Rutela, but that man...Zant...executed me. I fear their last hope might perish. I sent my son, Ralis, to seek help at Hyrule Castle, but his presence seems to grow fainter with every minute. Will you find him?"

 _Cover all the bases._

"I will, but please, tell my friend Link too. He'll be coming through here and he's well...he's a wolf."

She gave a solemn smile and nodded, fading away into the cool air.

"Jesus."

 _To Castle Town now, yeah?_

"Yeah," my eyes lingered where Rutela once stood, then tore away to the long walk ahead. After getting back to the residential area, I spoke up to Vox, "What are you?"

 _A Vinderendetta, I thought you knew that._

"Sorry," I sighed, "Where are the other Vinderendetta?"

 _Like I would know, I've been gone for months. They don't like to stand out so usually they'll just be walking around in their human forms. I might be able to tell, but I'd have to be looking and that would use up your magic._

"Use up?"

 _You haven't been using too much at a time, but you'll feel limited soon enough. I'm working on what will fix that, don't worry._

"Right."

The waterfall roared with life, the pool below flowing outward into Hyrule. It was still cold, but the grey sky had broken up somewhat to reveal a subtle orange tinge. When I reached Hyrule Field, I brought the quiet kitten to my face. Her tiny paws stretched towards my nose, little beans a mixture of pink and brown. I set her on my shoulder where she wobbled then curled up.

Back across the field, I felt what Vox meant. It became strenuous to force out enough energy to even scratch the monsters I fought. Instead of taking them on, I tried to run, even the most stubborn ones, I ran. My muscles pulsed with pain and by the time I saw the walls of Castle Town I was ready to collapse.

Stone surrounded a wooden bridge and arched over a grand metal door. In front of its handles were two guardsmen, spear tops resting above their heads. They followed my path that fell before them and scoffed, "What business do you have here?"

"Uh...visiting?"

"You got paperwork?" the second one asked.

In the darkening light, I could barely make out their expressions. "No," I sighed.

"No entry."

"But my friend will be looking for me!" As I tried to force myself closer, their spears clicked together, "What do you want?"

"Everyone in Castle Town knows the new orders, no entry without plausible reasoning or paperwork, your friend can wait." The first guard brought his spear back, casting a glare through the curtain of night at the kitten on my shoulder.

I hesitated to retaliate, wracking my brain for idea after idea until one flowed from its depths like a saving grace. "Fine," cracking my thumbs, I stood up straighter, looking down my nose at the two young men, "If it pleases you to know, I am a close ally of the hero."

"Yeah, okay little lady," the first one laughed.

With a breath, I pulled together a flow of energy and whipped it out in a shape. Three unstable blue triangles sat in the palm of my hand and before they could disintegrate I lifted them up to their eye level.

The second guardsmen retreated first, moving his spear back and stepping aside cautiously. Quivering in his armour, the other opened one of the grand doors and bowed slightly, "I'm sorry madame, the captain's orders were strict. Please tell the hero that Hyrule's soldiers are with him."

 _Nice one._

I nodded and slipped into the sleeping city. Lights were turning off here and there, but few souls still wandered the streets. As the door shut behind me, I gave a sweeping look at the around, the size hitting me despite the night. Houses towered, restaurants and taverns glew, at each side of me there was a road lead off to somewhere, and what was best was that I didn't recognize any of it. The main structure of stone buildings was still prominent, but much more common than before were the wooden dwellings and quaint plazas for play.

Straight ahead was the main street, a fountain obstructing the gates of the castle whose spires loomed overhead. I held back a gasp, walking forward towards its watchful eyes, to the fountain. The occasional citizen passed, their heads turning, expressions a blur in my peripheral. When I reached the fountain I took a left, lost in a tangle of buildings. It soon became evident that the endless string of structures was not close to Telma's bar, but I was too lost to turn around.

The further into the city I stalked, the worse the housing got, walls in tatters and windows shattered. I sat down on the ground and groaned. Minutes passed by, lanterns turned low, people going inside. Standing up, I went back the way I thought I came and stumbled upon a grouping of nicer housing. A single man was walking down it, indistinguishable. Keeping on despite him, we inched closer to each other until his head turned to still look at me and my foot caught on the cobblestone.

"What are you doing out so late at night?"

"Uh!"

His hair was a bright blonde, long and unkempt. I took several steps away before turning around to see him more clearly, his tall and muscular body. "Are you lost?"

"Um," I nodded slowly, cocking my head, "Do you know which direction Telma's bar is?"

The man pointed back the way I came, "Have you ever been in this city before?"

"No," I admitted.

He smirked, stretching his stubble upward to one side with his mouth, "I'll lead you there then."

I shook my head, "No, no, I can get there myself."

 _You're giving me a headache and I don't even have a brain anymore._

Ignoring Vox, I went to pass the man and get ahead in the way he pointed, but he suddenly stepped closer to me. Cautiously, I looked him in the eye.

"I insist," he said, low.

I couldn't make out their color, brown or deep green or blue, they were as unreadable as a twelve page essay written in the dead of night. Even still, I refused and kept going only to feel him grasp my bicep. "Get off!"

He pulled me back, my body at his whim and wish. I was a doll in his hands, flimsy. Creota fell off my shoulder and I felt a paw poke my ankle. There wasn't enough strength in my legs to counter him and my heart began to beat too loud in my ears to think straight again.

 _Magic! Come on, I didn't give you these things for nothing._

I smacked my palm into his chest and summoned a bolt down my arm, watching it explode from my fingertips. The man screamed, his grip leaving my bicep to his chest.

My feet fled in the opposite direction he had ushered me towards, spiraling down the street into an intersection. As I tripped forward, the house fronts turned into empty stands and when I looked left and right, it was the same. Across the road was an opening, a gap in the storefronts and stands, a single lantern hung on a hook.

Panting, I trudged over to it, discovering a flight of stairs down into an open area below. In the wall was a door, a sign beside it written in Hylian. I looked down and saw Creota run up to me and swept her from the ground. Turning the knob, I was greeted by brown and orange lights. A wave of warmth washed over me and I sighed in relief as the searching eyes of Ilia popped up from a table in the corner. A large woman eyed me from behind the counter and exclaimed.

"My! What is a young woman like you doing out so late?!" she left the bar and marched over to me, green eyes scanning up and down, "And exhausted to."

I looked at the kitten in my hands anxiously, then back up at the woman.

"The name's Telma," she smiled tenderly, "If you need anything, just ask, we support each other around here, got it?"

"My friend should be coming around here, I just need a place for us to stay the night." I pleaded.

Telma cupped my face in her hands, frowning, "You poor thing, you look like you're about to cry." Her red dreadlocks slid over her shoulder as she leaned closer, then away, "Of course, who's your friend?"

I rubbed my eye, catching the lump in my throat before it choked my speech, "Link, he has blonde hair and blue eyes."

She smiled, "I'll keep an eye out. In the meantime, why don't you get some sleep?"

Agreeing, I followed her past the bar to a hallway lined with open and closed doors. She slid a key into the lock of a closed one, turning it swiftly and throwing it open. Inside were two beds, a table, two chairs, and nothing more. Turning around, I thanked her and waved a small goodbye as she slid off back towards the bar.

I put Creota down on one of the beds and shut the door. Complete darkness took over, but I felt my way to the bed and slid in. My mind drifted off to sleep to the hum of soft voices in the bar. By morning they had hushed and when I opened the door, light spilled into the room without interruption. Link hadn't magically appeared overnight, he was still out there, and the sky was still dark.

 _These things take awhile._

Shutting the door behind me, I frowned, "I know."


	7. Minor Bugs

**What's that? I'm back? No way.**

 **From the beginning of May till now I've been extremely busy testing and working on projects and I apologize, but I'm back in the swing of things I hope so here's a new chapter that I hope you-**

 **enjoy!**

 **(P.S. please excuse if the writing quality isn't as good, it was harder to get back into it than I thought. I read through but even going back to fix italics I found a typo so).**

* * *

Telma tried to comfort me, but as men began to file in around lunch time, her remarks were lost between orders. That's when I found Ilia, on her way out the door. I swiped Creota up from the floor where she was poking at crumbs and ran after the girl, calling her name before realizing, as she turned, that she didn't know it at all.

"What?" her green eyes squinted into the doorway.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Oh!" she lifted up the basket on her arm, "The market, I want to get some herbs."

"Can I tag along?"

She cracked a smile and nodded, leading me into a street full of people and objects and food. The girl I had known from the game was strong, but gentle. She had a knack for finding exactly what she needed at the market, likely at this for days. Link and her were childhood friends, but at this point in time, she looked back at me with sad eyes.

"I don't remember anything."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing and no one," she leaned down to examine one of the stalls, popping back up with a sigh, "I didn't know what to live for anymore until I found the Zora boy, now we're what's keeping each other alive."

"Zora boy?"

Ilia nodded, "I found him on the street and Telma helped me care for him. She's trying to see if the doctor will help tonight...I won't give up on him so long as he doesn't give up on me." She smiled to herself, calmly passing one stand to the other and picking up a couple of strange ingredients before paying a meager amount.

 _Do you remember any of this happening?_

I started to nod, but as Ilia glanced back at me with graceful solemnity, I realized things were far too real to, "remember." The way she frowned, the way she laughed, the way her eyes brightened up at the thought of hope. How could I even know that from a game? I remembered the boy, the events, but I knew nothing more, nothing and no one.

We went back into the bar and headed to a room at the beginning of the hallway. Inside, Ralis was laid out in bed, a wet rag on his forehead. Ilia left and came back with two jars of red liquid, opening one and beginning to mix various ingredients in. Propping him up, she held the bottle to his lips, coaxing him to drink as much as he could. When he was done, she lowered him back down and sat back in silence. The only noise was the boy's panting for awhile.

Ralis was still except for his rising and falling chest, the only energy he seemed able to exert. Although his skin wasn't the same tan color of a human's, you could tell he was pale, his cheeks ashy grey without a hint of pink. Around his neck were ornate regal jewels, the only sign of his status if any.

Hours passed like water flowing out of my hands. I left Ilia alone after a while to get something to eat. Instead of going back, I went to my room to talk to Vox, greeting Creota who sat, asleep, on the bed. "What does she eat?" Smoothing out her soft fur, I lied down next to her, shutting my eyes for a moment.

 _Nothing, unless you want her to. She's a vessel for a soul._

I opened my eyes, listening to her soft pur, "Who's soul?"

 _My daughter's, but that's a story for another day._

Before I could ask him to tell it, he was already going over something else.

 _So that boy was the one the Zora queen was talking about, right?_

"Mhm…"

 _And there's nothing suspicious about him?_

"It's the same as it was before…"

We went over all the strange or odd things that I didn't remember from the game, but overall, he was convinced they just added up to the more realistic nature of the world here as opposed to there. All except for the attack on the Twilight Realm, which Vox said had to have happened after he left.

 _Many of the males left for your world all at once, but I was convinced we should stay to make sure the others in our colony didn't affect the upcoming war. We were told when we were little that we didn't belong here and when word got out that a child was born with the birthmark, we knew another one of those Hylian legends was starting._

 _The higher ups in the colony were corrupted and when my people kept leaving for Hylians, they were outraged. They valued blood purity above all else, but their population was dwindling, and we were afraid they would do anything to make it go back up, so they left and I left to find help._

The next thing I knew, I was waking up to Creota leaping out of my arms. I got up and opened the door looking out into the hallway. Voices shouted from the bar, soldiers still in armour getting drunk, working men filling their stomachs with food. Ilia found me entering their midst and pulled me to a table.

"She got a doctor to come after dinner," she beamed.

"That's great," I smiled for her.

As she went back to eating, I looked around at the men, jolly and loud. In the corner I spotted one with blonde hair and nearly leaped out of my seat. Noticing my sudden anxiety, Ilia tried to see what I had been startled by.

"What is it?" Her eyes darted from one side of the crowd to the other, but she didn't understand what I saw.

The man got up from his seat, a glass of beer in his hand. I stood rigidly, "I-I forgot to do something, I'll see you later."

She began to protest for a reason from me, but I was into the hallway before she could convince me to turn back around and tell her what it was. I shut myself in my room, locking the door and climbing into the corner. After a few minutes, a knock resounded into the room, but I ignored it, curling up further into myself.

 _Do you know him?_

"No! I don't know where he came from." Another knock rang, another second of silence wavered.

 _He's not a Vinderendetta, I checked._

"Oh yeah, that helps."

The hinges of the door shuddered with the next knock, but fortunately didn't give way.

"Shit, what does he want?"

 _I don't know, but stay away from him._

There wasn't another knock this time, but I heard footsteps leave, heavy and distinct.

"Gladly," I got up from the floor, dusting off my legs and sitting on the edge of the bed. Vox kept talking about random things, but I had started tuning him out. My worries turned to Link, desperately stuck in a cycle of thoughts about him. I couldn't tell when he was getting back and I didn't want to be alone knowing that man could very well still be out there waiting for me.

My chest constricted suddenly, "Do they think I'm dead?"

 _Who?_

"My family…"

 _There's no way they could find a body, you're here._

I breathed out, "Thank god…"

 _But my body didn't make it back through...doing two things at once isn't as easy as it seems._

"Vox!"

 _I'm sorry! I messed up, it really wasn't that hard._

A knock erupted from the door and I froze.

 _Not again. Your heartbeat hurts my ears._

Another one, harder, shook it in its frame. Before I could hide, a voice shouted through.

"Maizy!"

I let out my breath. Pushing myself up from the creaky bed, I turned the doorknob slowly, peering past the wood to see his icy blues eyes scowling back at me. "Link?"

"I told you not to do anything stupid," he forced the door open the rest of the way, jerking it out of my hands.

"Wha-I didn't."

Link stepped in, throwing the door closed behind him, casting everything into darkness, "Where's the light?" He didn't wait for a response, lighting his lantern between us.

"What are you talking about?" I pleaded as he turned away and put the lantern on the table, facing back to me with drawn eyebrows.

"You know what I'm talking about. I told you to go straight to Castle Town, but instead you decided to do a little stunt." he seethed, crossing his arms.

I hugged my stomach, begging it to calm down, "I destroyed the rock you were supposed to use to break the ice, I was just trying to help."

"I could've figured out another way."

"I saved you time!"

"SHUT UP, MAIZY, LISTEN TO ME! I don't care what you thought you did, this is my war to fight, we follow my rules." Link yelled, his voice cutting the wire between my brain and anxiety.

There was suddenly nothing holding me back and I couldn't bear looking him in the eye anymore, so I spoke, and I spoke clearly, "She doesn't remember you, does she?"

The malice dripping from my lips tasted bitter. Link's expression softened before growing even more intense, "Fuck you."

He swept his lantern off the table and left, slamming the door behind him, leaving me in the dark. I broke down into tears, sobbing into the bed sheets uncontrollably. Vox didn't speak to me, but Creota curled up in my lap and fell asleep. My head pounded, my stomach pulsed with pain. Every movement was sore, I barely managed to get myself up into bed and once I did, I fell asleep immediately, lost to the misery in my eyes.

In the morning, Link shook me awake and threw something on the bed, "Come out quick with that on, I don't want you sticking out anymore." When he left and I rubbed my eyes, there was a lantern on the table, illuminating a pile of clothes. As I picked them up, the altering in the fabric became obvious in the light, the cut out shoulder and freshly sewn hem. I grabbed the black garment, a full body skin tight article without sleeves and a strap at the bottom to go around the arch of the foot.

After slipping it all on, I tied the shirt in a knot at the side to make it fit better, then noticed the lump of fabric still on the bed. It was a long wide strip of the same material as the shirt. I fit it on, finding the slits in the skirt lined up with my thighs on the front and back, and tied it at the side. Creota yawned from the floor, but I left her behind and grabbed the lantern, stepping out into the light of the hallway. The true colors of the outfit became apparent, a deep lavender on top of black.

Link turned his head over and nodded, "Tomorrow we head out for Kakariko with Ralis and Ilia. You got any objections?"

"No…"

"Good," he walked past me to the bar and I followed helplessly behind him.

I stared into the back of his head, pulling teeth to get myself to say something to him, anything, "Link, I'm sorry."

 _Hey, hey, hey. Stand your ground._

"I don't want to hear it," he stopped at a table, looking down at the girl there who was sitting and eating, Ilia, "We're going to go out and get some provisions for the journey, would you like to join us?"

Ilia jumped up from her food, swallowing what was in her mouth and looking up at us, "Oh, I need to take care of-"

Link interrupted her, "He'll be okay by tomorrow, Renado is a skilled medic," her eyes dropped, "Please, we'll be quick."

She didn't seem to understand his persistence, but after a moment of thinking, I saw her nod and stand up, taking the food and disposing of it before coming back to us. We set out to the market, buying a few reasonable things before moving towards the center of the city. On the way, Link stopped us at a stand of flowers, throwing a few rupees at the seller and picking up a rose that he handed to Ilia.

The girl's cheeks bloomed the same color as the petals in her fingertips, stealing the blood from my own. I felt pale and when she glanced towards me, our eyes met, "You look sick!" she exclaimed.

"It's nothing," I assured her.

We carried on, me in tow behind the two childhood friends whose shoulders nearly touched. As we walked, I didn't feel the same eyes bore into me like I had before, instead I felt their absence like being suffocated. Creota was back in the room, but Vox was always in my chest, waiting to throw out a quip.

 _Someone's jealous._

"Shut up."

 _Someone's upset._

I shook my head, blotting out my emotions until my head throbbed and we had stopped moving. Link turned to Ilia, smiling at her as he lowered himself to the edge of the fountain and motioned for her to sit next to him. They laughed with each other, gazes locked on the other's, lips exchanging thoughts.

A hand patted my shoulder and I tensed. Whipping around, I found the swampy eyes of the man staring me down. He didn't speak, only grinning, turning away back into the crowd. I couldn't find him again, gone in the endless stream of people. Link was still enthralled with Ilia, watching her with wonder. Anxiously, I moved in front of them and jumped in on a loose end of conversation, "Can we leave the city for a bit?"

They both finally looked at me, "Well, I don't want to be out for too long," Ilia said, "Besides, look," her finger reached out to some place behind me, "Storm clouds."

"Why do you want to leave anyway?" Link asked.

"I, well," I hesitated, "someone's been following me."

Ilia stood up from the fountain, "Was that the reason you freaked out yesterday?!"

"Yeah."

"There has to be a reason he's following you." Link sighed.

"Look, why don't you two work this out and I'll go back to the bar, I really need to check up on him."

The conversation grew stiff, Link got up beside Ilia, failing to get out a single word before she stepped away, "Thank you, you're really sweet."

He nodded as she left, swallowed by the crowd. When his attention shifted to me, my chest constricted, lost to the glare in his eyes. Above, the sky was blue, but in the distance I could see the clouds, dark and brooding.

"I heard the Southern Field is nice, why don't we go down there to talk?" his voice was a straight edge as he picked up the rose left on the fountain. He held it up for a moment, then threw it into the water.

We walked back, side by side, down the market street and through the open gate into the stone stairway on the other side. At its base an expanse of flowers spread out over the grass for acres. On the horizon, two people strolled along, knee deep in petals. A breeze carried away color into the sky, lifting my hair from my shoulders.

Link exhaled softly, "I'm sorry."

"What?"

He took another breath, "For yelling at you."

 _Aha!_

"What's with the change of heart?" I peered to see his face, catching a quick glance from the corner of his eye.

"Midna talked to me."

"Oh," a strong wind took away the heat of the sun, blowing around the scent of the flowers up where we were making our way down.

"I still don't want you running off like that, but I shouldn't have shouted at you, I was just upset." he shut his eyes, tilting his head up to the sun.

My toes brushed grass and flower stems, but I didn't look down at them, "I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have said that…" When he didn't respond, I scratched my shoulder, "You love her, don't you?"

"I miss her," his eyes opened, "She's still in there, she still feels like home...I love her but...If she doesn't remember me, what am I gonna do?" A gloved hand reached up to his face, wiping away small tears.

The field of flowers tickled my nose with pollen, every gust of wind throwing up particles and petals and butterflies. Sometimes I kneeled down to see the bugs, dragonflies and wasps perched on flower tops, bumble bees covered in fuzz. I did it without warning, but Link still waited to move along, one time offering me an aster on my way back up. It stayed clamped between my fingers for long afterwards.

We came up on the two people who had just been dots on the field before, a young girl dressed in a princess gown decorated with butterflies and an older man with striking blonde hair that matched hers. They had the same sad purple eyes with three dots underneath the bottom lash, smiles somber. The girl had come running over in a frenzy, clamping her hands down on something in the dirt. As she came back up, she opened her palm to reveal a sparkling gold beetle.

"You almost stepped on him!" She scowled at Link, tucking the bug away into a pouch.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see him," Link started sifting through his pouch, pulling out a twinkling butterfly, "Here, have this."

The girl nearly stopped breathing, "Where did you find that?!" she cupped her palm over the tiny insect ushering it into her other hand, "Holy shit!"

"Agitha!"

A gust of wind swept the butterfly into the air, sending the girl into another panic as she ran after it frantically. The man frowned, "Oh well…" then turned to us, "Hello, sorry about my daughter."

Link reached out to shake his hand which he politely accepted, "Agitha?"

The man nodded, "My name's Monich."

"Link and…" he dragged me closer by the arm, "Maizy."

Monich stood back, scanning us up and down thoughtfully, "Are you travelers?"

"Yeah, we've been out for about a week now and are just stopping by for the time being."

The man's face lit up, "Why don't you stop by my place for dinner? I'm sure it's been awhile since you've had a hot meal." Agitha came running up behind him, hands clamping over the shimmering bug. Her small frame bumped into him, beaming at what she knew was in between her fingers.

"Why not, where do you live?" Link folded his arms, "We'll come around sundown."

"Mm," Monich tapped his chin, "The wealthy district. Take the roads east from the market street and if you find the main road, I'm the large stone building, hard to miss."

Agitha tucked the butterfly away and looked up at us, "It looks like a castle."

"Got it," Link smirked, smoothing out his hair as another breeze tumbled through us, "Should be a nice break from having to listen to this girl talk."

My eyebrows drew together as I turned to him, "I barely talk, what are you talking about?"

As he began chuckling I realized the sarcasm and drew away. Monich noticed, however, and smiled, "My wife was quiet too, soft spoken. Sometimes I wonder if she would've survived had she just been...louder."

"What happened?" I asked, but he shook his head, gesturing towards Agitha.

"I'd rather not talk about it with her here."

"Oh, of course! I'm sorry...I uh-"

"She's absent minded, and also probably hungry, I think we should go get lunch." Link tugged on my arm and I followed him in his waves and goodbyes.

Monich saluted us somewhat as we turned away, faced with the immense size of Castle Town's walls and the castle, always looming overhead. Our footsteps left behind the field of flowers, impressing upon them our own meanings and memories, of which would be gone with the coming of winter, buried in the snow. Between the two large staircases back up to the market street, a waterway drained underground. I stopped by it, holding out the aster from my chest.

A hand grasped the stem over mine, "You're just going to throw away my flower?"

I met his eyes, stuttering over myself, "Oh, uh, I didn't think it meant anything." My cheeks went red.

 _Yeah sure._

He cocked his head, but shook it off, letting go, "Drop it then, I don't care." The wind spiraled between us, shaking the slim flower in my grasp.

One by one, my fingers left the stem, but as the last two clung on, I found that I couldn't let it go like he had. The image of Ilia's rose, gliding along the water's surface, flashed in my head. I brought it back to my chest then, gingerly, tried to fit it behind my ear. When it slid out, his fingers caught onto it before I could grab on, weaving it through my hair until it stayed put.

My heartbeat filled my ears, thundering louder than the thoughts flicking around.

 _Shh._

The look of anger on Link's face just last night faded out of memory. Instead, I saw his gentle neutrality, disconnected yet comforting against all of the unfamiliar faces I found every day. "Let's start over from yesterday, yeah?" he said.

I nodded, "Yeah."

Link grinned slightly, "I'm glad you're alright."

"I-" my voice hitched, "Thanks for coming back."

We moved on, back to the market street. Link ended up buying a few things, strolling off without warning. Initially I held back complaints that I wanted to sit down, but after he turned around and handed me a small dagger strapped to a belt, the thoughts suddenly left my mind. It fit around my waist well enough, although it sat lopsided because I had never really put on weight in my life and was prone to losing it more than anything.

Telma's bar was busy somewhat, people's voices peaked as they shouted over the crowd and demanded orders. The food here was simple, but it was enough to attract more than just drunks at the right time of day. Link came up to the bar where Telma finished up a request and turned to us.

"Where's Ilia?"

Telma narrowed her eyes at Link, "I thought she was with you."

He stepped closer, "Are you serious?" Several looks flashed by from the people sitting at the bar. Link's face was swiftly losing color even in the warm light.

"Why would I be joking?"

 _You saw that guy back at the fountain._

My breathing stopped as I realized he'd seen me with her several times...and I'd let her go off on her own even though I knew he was close by. "Link."

"What?" he rubbed his forehead.

"I think...I saw the guy back at the fountain, and if Ilia went back by herself, none of us would have seen him take her so maybe-"

"What does the guy look like?!" Link's body was now fully facing me.

"Blonde hair, um...tall and very muscular?"

Telma interrupted, "There's a man named Destrian I've heard word about who's known for harassing girls on the street," she paused, "he lives somewhere in the aristocratic district, I'm sure if you asked around there someone would know him."

"Let's go, come on Maizy." Link grabbed my arm and ran with it, yanking me along before I could even get myself into a running pace. Nonetheless I kept up because the look on his face was enough to know that keeping my mouth shut was the best thing I could do right then.


	8. System Error

**Smummber has begun which means I have way too much free time on my hands. Just as promised I've been writing more so I got this done and edited in record time even though my brother was over cause of his wedding. I'm really excited to be rewriting this part so I hope you-**

 **Enjoy bro!**

 **(Also thank you to my new beta reader for giving me some feedback on this chapter even though it was short notice!)**

* * *

Men and ladies dressed in ornate fabrics gave us perplexed looks as we went by. The few children that played in the street were scolded promptly by caretakers and ushered back inside. Link peered past me at the other side of the street, scanning every house front through iron gates and fencing. We stopped by the street and began asking around.

The name Telma gave us left our lips at every opportunity. Some people's faces would turn to disgust before dismissing us while others never recalled a man with the name. As we traveled up the street, a building found itself behind the woman I was about to question, tall and brooding, two spires reaching up to the heavens. Although the woman saw me approaching, I left her eye contact and ran back to Link.

"Link!"

He spun, eyebrows knit with worry, "Yeah?"

I pointed to the other side of the street, "That looks like Monich's house, right?"

He studied the stone building slowly, then nodded. We found our way onto the steps, knocking on the big wooden door and waiting for a response. When none came, Link conceded they were probably still out, but before he could fully turn around, Monich's voice called from the road.

"You two? It's barely past noon, what are you doing here so early?"

The storm clouds had encroached closer on the sun, but it still remained high and away from them. Gingerly, I spoke up, "We're looking for someone."

"Yeah, do you know Destrain?" Link stepped down.

Monich laughed somewhat, gesturing to the house next door, "You haven't gotten yourselves tangled up with him, have you? He doesn't have the best reputation around here."

"I know," Link crossed his arms, "That's why we're looking for him."

"Well give him a warning first...at least." Monich guided Agitha in front of him, pushing her through us to the door. Before he went inside, he gave us one last word of advice, "There's way more about him than he lets on."

As the door shut, a cloud passed over the sun and cast us in brief grey. The air went cold, wind billowing from all directions. Link and I walked down to the house, wooden but sturdy and still finely made. His hand grasped the knocker, breathing in as he lifted it higher, then slammed it down, down, and down.

Our figures wavered in silence before a young woman answered the door, eyes bloodshot and watery. "Mm?" she blinked, squinting against the light outside.

"Is this where Destrian lives?" Link forced the door open further.

She shook her head cautiously, "What do you want with him?"

Link pushed on the door again, hitting the woman on the other side with its edge. She stumbled backwards, clinging to its side still, "He isn't here, I live with my husband and children!" Her voice rose drastically, echoing throughout the foyer opposing the threshold.

"I'm sorry but I don't believe you." He jerked it open the rest of the way, throwing the woman to the carpeted floor. The inside was decorated in artwork on every wall, exquisite furniture waiting to be sat on or covered with vases. A bookshelf on the wall held volumes, names written in Hylian. Link and I stepped in, staring around into every corner, but finding nothing suspicious.

 _That's weird…_

"What?" I asked aloud.

Link narrowed his eyes at me, "What?"

"Nothing," I shook my head vigorously, looking away.

The woman got up and shut the door with a slam. I jumped, but Link merely turned to her and crossed his arms again, "So where is he?"

She swept the black hair out of her face and smiled, "He's right behind you, didn't you see him when you walked in uninvited?"

I spun over on my heel, reeling at the sight of the man, appearing taller than even the moment I met him face to face that horrific night. He approached us with open arms, "Ah! I've been expecting you! Glad to see you've made it." The glint in his eye as he talked gave me chills that rolled down my spine like a massage given by a serial killer.

Link placed himself between him and me, holding his hands in fists at his sides, "Cut to the chase, where the hell is Ilia?" he spat.

Destrian threw up his arms, sneering, "Well excuse me for attempting formalities. I, however, don't yet know your names if you would care to bless me with them." His arms dropped, but his demeanor still rose far above the room.

"Give her back."

"Mm," he laughed, "and what do I get?"

Link's hand shot to his hilt, drawing the long blade out of its sheath without warning, "You get nothing," The blade swung across him, stopping just short of a vase sat precariously on a table.

Unfortunately, Destrian wasn't phased, "Okay, kid, let's make a deal. You give me that girl right there, and you get your little girlfriend back, no harm done."

The summer air dissipated from the room, chilling me to the bone. I backed away to the door, hand on the knob behind my back. Destrian's eyes still shined, watching me and as I turned it slowly and it suddenly turned no more.

"I'm not here to negotiate." Link pointed his blade at Destrian, the strain in his voice creeping in behind gritted teeth.

I let go of the doorknob, but didn't move.

"Oh, so you want to do it this way then?" Destrian waved off the woman with a flick, "Mm...yes, perhaps this might need a little force."

"What do you want with her anyway?" He glanced back at me, a moment that I tried to grasp in my fingertips, but unlike the flower, I lost him to the water. A tear slipped out of my eye.

That same smirk never left Destrian's face, not while he spoke, not while he was threatened. He strolled over to a painting, the size of the wall in which was depicted a battle, gruesome and dark. "That is none of your business."

 _Wait._

The woman came back around, a girl trudging alongside her, gagged and tied at the wrists. Link lowered his sword at the sight of her green eyes, wide and watery against the dim lights. His foot went towards her, but his body stayed put as she was brought right in front of him.

Destrian laid a hand on her shoulder, "Let's compromise then, shall we?" A twisted glare fixated on me, "You give me her, or I kill the girl."

 _Maizy, that woman, you need to kill her now._

Ilia tried to shrug off Destrian's hand, but neither he nor the woman would let go. I cowered under his eyes, feeling my back press the wooden door. My chest hurt, pounding away in my ears and fingers and toes. Anywhere my pulse went, I could feel it, consuming me. No, I didn't want to die. I didn't want to kill another human being. I had never been capable of that before and I didn't want to prove to myself that I was capable now. But I didn't know what to do. I didn't.

"I'm not letting her go that easily. If you want to fight me about, then go ahead."

Deep down, I wanted to believe in Link, but those storm clouds were so close. I fit my palm over the doorknob and squeezed, letting energy flow to my fingertips, numb.

Destrian suddenly threw Ilia forward out of the woman's hold, "Have fun."

 _Maizy, kill that woman, kill her now. She's a Vinderendetta._

The woman's figure began to hunch over, her skin turning ashy grey as her eyes went bright red. I released the energy in my hand, wood cracking and giving way behind me. It swung open as her back hit the ceiling, breaking it away while the room collapsed. Link grabbed Ilia and ran, leaving me tripping after them.

We tumbled onto the street, safe for a few blissful seconds as we watched the house implode. In that time, Link cut off Ilia's restraints and yelled at her to run, but when she started away, the ground shook and she fell to the cobblestone again. The front of the house blew out, a large reptilian creature clawing into the road. Screams erupted, men, women, children alike terrified for their lives.

Three of us stood within it all, face to face with a beast that wasn't all that different from the one inside of me.

 _Listen to me as you go, don't do anything careless, I need you._

Link lifted Ilia into his arms and picked her up, dragging her along until he got passed me and shoved her away like a toy car, expecting her roll away out of sight. Her face was engraved with forehead wrinkles, wide eyes, and an open mouth. I stood up on my two quivering legs and brought my hands out in front of me. "Take her, I'll hold the Vinderendetta off until you get back."

The Vinderendetta extended three long claws, beady eyes glaring out over a long snout. My blood rushed to my palms as she swung it down towards me, red crackling out into a fragile pane. They connected, the world frozen there for a moment before everything shattered. Her claws struck through, my shield fizzling out in front of me as I felt one enter and exit the flesh in my side.

When I hit the ground, the Vinderendetta leapt forward over me, running after the pair that had taken off. I rolled onto my stomach, helplessly witnessing Link turn around and draw his sword. Her arm winded back, and although he started to retreat, he was still well within range by the time she swept down towards him. I pushed myself up, flinching from the pain in my side, staring straight ahead.

Link sliced, up one of the claws, shaving off the tip and jumping backwards. I breathed out, glancing down at the wound through my side, readily piecing itself together. When I looked back, she had swung at him again, a green aura surrounding her remaining claws. Link attempted to slice again, but it didn't strike through, sword falling out of his hand into the cobblestone.

"No…"

The two claws entered his chest and he fell beside his blade, face down. I tried to run to him, but my body froze in place as the Vinderendetta caught up to Ilia. Although they were so far off in the distance, the flash of green and the girl's small figure slumping to the ground was enough to know. Link pushed up, staring down the road, blank. Her name left his lips like a gentle kiss before his body lied limp in the street.

I kneeled down and shook him, but with every jerk, the Vinderendetta stalked closer. Soon enough I gave up and left him.

 _The only way to kill her is to either sever her head or strike her through the heart, right between the shoulder blades. I've been trying to finish something, but it's not going to come in time, you're going to have to rely on yourself._

"That's fine," I rubbed my side, skin smooth and new, healed over in minutes. If I could at least survive, maybe I could help Link...if I could at least survive.

She settled before me, my chin turned to the sky just to see her giant maw. Her body was showered in golden scales, glinting off the dying sunlight. Every other moment a cloud would sweep by and drown the world in grey. As the wind blew by, my hair and clothes flicked towards the creature, however, her stiff body remained still, bending to nobody's will but her own.

"So you're a Vinderendetta?" she hummed, her voice ethereal, harmonious as if she spoke in two octaves.

I shook my head, "No, not like you."

 _Don't say my name._

"Are you a translation then?"

I scowled, "What do you mean?"

She lowered her head, eyes meeting mine straight on, "It doesn't matter, you're with the hero, are you not?"

"I am," I stepped back.

"Well then my mercy ends here. If you are a vessel, then perhaps the traitor inside will get what's coming to them." She stood back, lifting her head to its full height again. I felt my blood rush, pulse thrumming throughout my body.

 _That's Celincia, I remember she was always so gentle..._

A ball of green fire flew towards me, its heat progressively dancing across my skin. Before it could envelope me, I threw up a panel of red, catching the fire on its surface. My muscles tensed under its force, breaking through the shield bit by bit. As it shattered, I leapt to the side, tripping over my feet into the road.

 _You want to dispel the attack as quickly as possible. Usually splitting it in half dissipates its energy._

Celincia took a step forward, shaking the ground and knocking me down once again. When I looked back up, another fiery ball was surging at me. I didn't waste time standing up and throwing a flash of red into the space between us. The ball hit and I evaporated the shield, my hand shooting with pain as green lightning erupted from my fingertips into it. Fire fell away, the bolt spiraling toward her, but just as I had done, she struck it away and paused.

"Vox?"

Her timber was strained.

 _Don't listen to her, just keep going._

I stepped back, anxiously hesitating to continue, "But-"

 _There's no talking sense into them, just kill. She killed Ilia._

My limbs went numb, pain striking through my flesh like bullets. Celincia stood still, "Vox is that you? Please…"

 _Kill her!_

Water. It fell from the heavens as if the goddesses were weeping. The pain consumed my chest making my breath stagger, grating out of my throat. My mind bubbled with questions, adrenaline tossing them out, throwing away doubt and replacing it with blindness.

Celincia's eyes watched, pleading.

The connection between my brain and my muscles was severed, numb and pain tumbling out as light, too bright to determine its color. Passed my raised hand I saw it enter her chest and expel gold out into the rain, exiting into the night air and fizzling out from white to green to nothing. Through her shoulderblades, blood dripped out into the street. She stumbled, red irises succumbing to her eyelids, golden scales turning a muddy brown.

The Vinderendetta hit the cobblestone, splashing water up from small puddles. It didn't move, body dormant like a sleeping dragon, wingless and chained. My jaw hung, stomach tangling into knots. I slowly moved my hands to my mouth, panic taking over my head like a parasite.

"Vox, she didn't even fight back."

 _She would've seen a much worse fate if you didn't kill her._

"I-" I fell into the creature, hugging its nose tightly, "She knew you."

 _We knew each other when we were kids. But that's over now, go get Link, he's still alive._

I laid a kiss on her scales then stood up, wiping away tears that fell with the rain. Link was unconscious and as I kneeled down to try to move him, he didn't stir. Nonetheless I was too weak to even drag him that far and sat defeated until a familiar voice yelled out over the patter of the storm.

"Maizy?! My god, you're out here?" Monich came racing from his home, tripping down his steps and over debris to get to us. "Come here, let's get out of the rain."

He picked up Link with ease, turning off back towards his house, unalarmed although a monster sat not far off. I wavered in place, looking back down the street where Ilia had fallen. If I had checked on her then, maybe I would have found her alive, but my heart didn't want to see a pale face, once so full of life, the color of a ghost.

Monich's home opened up to a grand entrance, a wide staircase leading up to the second floor lit by a chandelier. The walls were bare and I had little time to inspect the other rooms on the first floor because he wasted no time bringing us up to a guest room and laying Link out on a bed, ornate sheets getting stained with blood. He started trying to rip aside clothes, then left me in a rush.

When the door shut, Midna flew out, flustered and grappling at the fabric of his tunic. I peered over, the blood draining from my face as I saw the wound at Link's side, a gaping tear of red flesh. "Idiot! No amount of red potion can fix this!" Midna slammed her fists into his chest, holding back tears.

"I'm sorry."

Midna didn't hear me, she buried her face in her hands, turned away.

 _There's a way to help him...but I don't know if you want that commitment._

"What is it? Anything…" I made myself look into Link's face, his ashy skin creased along his forehead. Sweat poured at his brow, slick.

Midna peaked through her fingers at me.

 _Your blood, if you heal him with it he'll be fine in a few hours. But it hurts like hell and he'll feel pain every time you use your magic aside from a leiyn._

"I don't care, I don't need it." I ripped the knife from my side, holding my palm over where his open wound pulsed. Midna caught my other arm, about to cut deep into my flesh.

She glared at me, "What do you think you're pulling, who are you talking to?!"

"Midna, please, trust me."

Her grip loosened then released and I brought the blade to my skin. My heartbeat caught in my throat, stuck there with so many emotions. With a breath, I sliced through and fought the urge to pull my hand back, waiting for anything to drip. After a few seconds, a single golden orb fell.

Link's eyes shot open, gasping as he sat up, then yelped in pain. Midna forced him back down into the bed, prying his hand away to see the skin smooth and dark in a small circle where the golden blood had fallen. "We're not doing this bit by bit, hold on."

A knock resonated from the wooden door. I jumped, waving Midna off back into Link's shadow. Monich peaked through the door, holding bandages and nothing else, strolling in as if there was no rush. Dropping them on a couch in the corner, he turned to me, "There's not much we can do-"

"I need some privacy."

Monich narrowed his eyes, "And why is that? You want him to die?"

I shook my head, gripping Link's hand in mine, "I need to talk to him."

"He's in hysterics, we need to help him now or-"

"I can help him, I know how to help him. Just leave me alone and he'll be fine." I bit my tongue, cursing myself.

Monich's skepticism turned into something new, his demeanor altering, face morphing into pretension. "Oh…" he muttered, "Oh I get it…" Suddenly he backed out of the room, disappearing behind the door, a click from the knob resounding off the walls like a priest's blessings over a church.

 _Hurry, there's something off about him._

"Midna, what is it?"

The imp lurched out, fiddling around with the buckle over the pouch at Link's hip. I reached and unhooked it for her, waiting in anticipation for something to happen. She came back up with an empty bottle and handed it to me, "Collect it in here, quick."

 _Hold the knife in, you're going to have to keep cutting or it'll just repair itself too soon each time._

I held my palm over the jar, breathing deeply. Midna watched anxiously as I made the first dig and winced. The pain only intensified the longer I held it in, but I kept my resolve knowing that it wasn't even the half of it. That Link would be feeling much worse. As blood started dripping off the edge of the blade, I stole a glance at Link. He was breathing heavily, conscious and silent. When the bottle's bottom was covered completely, I found myself ready to ruin that false peace.

"Okay," I mumbled, "It's ready."

Link opened his eyes and tried to sit up, but flinched, freezing in place. He panted, looking at me with wide, piercing eyes. I tilted the bottle, my chest rising with the sliding of golden liquid, then stopping. One fluent motion sent it all across his wound. When it connected with his flesh, he screamed.

At first it came like pulses, but the longer I sat there, watching him, the more he writhed and seethed, the more Midna pulled him back from hurting himself. I set the bottle down and backed away, wringing my fingers through the hole in my clothes.

"I'm sorry," my words caught in my throat. I swallowed around something thick lodged there.

 _He'll be okay, remember what I said, don't use your magic if you can help it, right?_

"Right...right…"

A knock came from the door again, this time the man on the other side opened it quickly and walked in with purpose. Monich shut it behind him and spoke over Link's shrieks, "What's going on in here?!"

I glanced back, Midna no where to be seen, then rose my hands in defense, "He's gonna be fine, I just gave him a-a...potion!" No taste on my tongue would let me believe even my own lie, and the reciprocator of my words continued towards me without hesitation.

"There's something waiting for you at the front door." Monich pushed me aside gruffly.

"What?" I squeaked.

"Go, I'll see to Link."

My feet tried to stay, but my brain quickly shut off their free will and I was carried out of the room by my own two legs. Monich swung the door shut behind me, muffling Link's screams from my ringing ears. Suddenly I wanted to pry open the door and stay with him until he stopped, until he was okay.

Instead I turned my back on the noise and headed down the stairs. Across the hardwood floor I opened the door and stared out into the rain. Celincia was gone, but that was all I could find.

 _Oh my god._

My eyes traced the view downward, then froze on the small soaked kitten whose blood pooled around them. I kneeled, scooping up its limp body in my arms. Creota's little maw opened wide in a yawn, blinking against the house lights. Although I sighed, Vox brought back every inch of anxiety I thought I dispelled.

 _Someone tried to kill her, but they didn't know she was just a vessel. She would be dead if she was real._

"Why would they? Monich had to know that this was at the door…" I mumbled to myself.

"Oh yeah..."

I leapt back, snapping around only to come face to face with a nightmare.

"He knew very well."


	9. Gone

**Okay so found out I got a 5 on my AP test so I'm ! very happy cause that's guaranteed college credit unless I want to go somewhere super fancy. But you're here to read Worlds, not listen to me brag.**

 **I guess I should also start responding to reviews since I do that on Quotev. For now I'm just gonna say up here to my guest reviewer who loves Vox, it might be best to leave spoilers out? Like ones that apply to something that is from later in the story. But I love your comments!**

 **Also thank you to my beta reader, ButtLordLunaPower, who is my second pair of eyes on this story! It's hard to read your own story from your audience's point of view so I'm very grateful for the help on editing and the like!**

 **Sorry for the long A/N if you read through it. But without further adooo**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Destrian stood only two feet away, wielding a long sword and wearing a smirk. I took a wary step back, but I knew there was nowhere to go and I couldn't leave Link behind. Instead I stood my ground, ignoring every shaking muscle in my body.

"Pretty girl, where's your hero now?" Destrian winded back his blade, running forward.

My arm shot out, a quivering sheen of red bursting from my fingertips. With every second it hovered in the air, my limb throbbed more. The pain nearly choked me as his sword collided with my shield and I let it go.

"Why does it hurt?!" I cried.

Running back, I avoided another swing from Destrian and bolted to the stairs. Vox's voice prodded from inside my head.

 _Trying to detect if Celincia was a Vinderendetta took out more than I anticipated. I'm sorry but you shouldn't be using your magic anyway because-_

"Because Link, I know, shut up!"

My first foot hit the steps, skipping as many as it could along the way. I threw a peak over my shoulder, nearly tripping as I saw him so close in toe. One last jump and I tore down the hall, yanking open a door and shutting it behind me with a slam.

I closed my lips around a breath, taking in a the mock serenity until a banging erupted from the other side of the room, cancelling out the pounding footsteps echoing through the wall. On the bed Link was wrestling with Monich, a knife slowly being pressed towards his chest. The door shook in its frame as Monich tumbled to the floorboards with a grunt.

Link's eyes met mine in a frenzy, "Maizy, thank the goddesses."

"Now is not the time!" I squealed, feeling the back of the door hit my spine. The floor creaked under my fall and when I looked back up, Destrian was standing over me. Creota's fur rubbed against my arm.

"Get away from her!" Link's voice sounded closer.

Sitting up, I tried to scoot away, but Destrian wasn't hesitant and my reflexes threw up a shudder of red as he swung downward. Link's gasp filled my ears like a bullet in my chest, freezing the room with the ice cold taste of death.

Destrian started to laugh, "I see…desperation really does lead to rash decisions."

I scrambled to my feet, suddenly wary of the capacity of the room and where everyone was. Link had slid off the bed, arm across his stomach, sword shaking in his left hand. Next to him was Monich, dancing on a thread in his peripheral, Destrian right by the door, right in front of me. Creota weaved herself in and out of my legs, blissfully unaware of the severity of the situation.

 _Son of a...this isn't looking good._

"Link, I-" I tried to speak, but there was no room to breathe.

"You know, when I realized you were waltzing around with the hero I thought I might be able to inflict some really nice collateral. But here I see you deny me any loss of life at all." Monich remarked, stepping up the room and prompting a shift in Link's stance, "I thought you were like my wife, but unlike her, you chose to scream despite my hands clutching your neck."

The air that went into my lungs felt null, brain fuzzy in the midst of a million flying worries. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of mentioning Ilia, I couldn't anyway, my voice would be incomprehensible against the quivers and lack of breath. Resigned into silence, I let my eyes lock on Destrian and didn't move.

"Weak," he muttered.

My limbs felt fragile, a doll's ready to be bent in half by little fingers.

 _Don't you dare give up on me, I can tell you're shutting down. Look up, Maizy, look up!_

"Bastard!"

That familiar accented voice pierced my eardrums, a punctuated yet pleasant note, although, only pleasant because I knew it meant no harm to me. A gigantic orange fist sailed across the room, pinning Destrian into the wall.

"Who do you work for?!" Midna trembled.

A sneer arose on Destrian's face, ear to ear, "Wouldn't you like to know."

At his back, the wood began to give way. Link came up behind me, darting for the door. When I looked back over my shoulder, Monich had his dagger out, charging. Rather than let my poor instinct to stick my ground rule my every action, I ran the other way. Before Link tore through the threshold, Midna retracted her arm and fled after him, slipping under his shadow as he turned out of sight.

Monich was riding right at my heels, gaining ground with each labored stride I made. The grand staircase opened up beneath my toes, but the moment I turned to step down, a hand caught my left arm and I nearly tripped sideways. With a tug I gained enough ground to plop one step down, but although I tugged again, I couldn't get myself farther.

He tried to close the gap between us and I kicked out with my foot, hitting him in the stomach. A glimmer in his purple irises haunted each wavering second I was stuck in his grasp until Destrian came running up beside him. Link's figure came into my peripheral, but with the swing of a sword, he halted at the pain erupting in his scar. My red shield caught Destrian's blade, but shattered at my guilt. Limbs on fire, I tried to pull away again, but he wound up another slice directed at my arm.

"Stop!" I shrieked.

Another flash of red caught the sword and staggered Link, then another.

 _Maizy, come on!_

By the next attack my mind was filled with fuzz, coordination out of my reach. My other hand flung out, tears streaking from tired my eyes. "STOP!" A blindness followed, light engulfing the room with a roar of deafening thunder. Something entered the flesh at my bicep, matching the pain striking through my chest, then came through the other end. A million nerve endings were severed, hot and stinging. I stumbled back, slipping on the edge of a stair.

My ears rung, vision blurred and blotched with black. All I felt were harsh bumps and dizziness until arms wrapped around my torso and legs. A small soft ball plopped onto my stomach, but before I could steady my vision to see what it was, the walls and floors raced by in shifting colors. The only constant was green against raucous shouts and flying figures. One word prodded through the cloudy veil around me, one harsh spike at my eardrums.

"Fire."

Warms lights shifted to cold darkness and rain. My head went heavy, lulling my eyes shut, plunging everything into darkness.

When I came to, my vision was clearer and the details of the house fronts we had walked through just this afternoon whizzed by in uncontrolled bursts. The clanking of armour followed distinctly far behind racing footsteps and coarse swears. Destrian and Monich's curses became coherently theirs the longer I was conscious.

I turned my head back, watching the horrific chase unfold behind. Just as I looked over, Destrian's arms were caught by a guardsman and he was pulled back. Monich broke ahead, but was quickly struck in the back by a spear and tripped into the cobblestone. Still, just as they were brought to their knees, they as swiftly disposed of their captors and raged on the war path once more, farther off.

As Link carried me on, I felt something prod the stump attached to my shoulder. The huge fluff of a small kitten stared back at me, then headbutted the same place again, halfway down my bicep where from there, my arm was completely gone. Her fur came back up the color of a rose.

"Link," I mumbled, but it didn't carry.

 _M-mai-_

My chest cried as if it was being torn in two. Vox's small voice croaked back, but with each noise a pain strangled my heart. I pulled my hand up from where it dangled and wrapped it around Link's neck, burying my face in his tunic. Rain pattered, drowning out my sobs between shuddered breaths.

Link wrenched open the grand doors to Castle Town, the same ones I found myself stuck behind two days ago. The guards on the other side bared their weapons, but he dodged aside them and ran across the bridge. His fingers met his mouth, a whistle echoing into the field. Just as we came to the edge of the bridge, Epona trotted up from somewhere close by.

She shivered in the rain, letting out huffs of air as we came along. Link jumped up onto her saddle, wincing under my weight in his arms, yet getting his leg over nonetheless. I shifted slowly, my movement murky between pain and shock.

Out of the doors burst two figures, sprinting at us. With the flick of reins, their images left my view, nothing but their voices cutting through the pouring rain.

"This isn't over, you hear me?! Remember our names!" Destrian said, fading out of sight and out of mind.

Rain beat down from the heavens, soaking me thoroughly except for where Link held me close by the waist. I found Creota at the edge of the saddle, clinging on by her needle claws. Blood stained her forehead, bright crimson.

We could barely see by the time Epona stopped, but by the vague image of an ornate stone archway, I dug through my sore memories to recall the bridge just passed it...the one over Lake Hylia I concluded as Link's grip left me and I almost fell forward into Epona's mane. I barely caught myself in time, still as he slid off then put a palm on my back.

"Maizy," he whispered, soothing.

Slowly, again, I grabbed Creota into my hand and brought my leg over, tumbling off into his arms.

"You're still bleeding," he said. Concern lingered in his warm breath that tangled through my hair as he lowered me to the ground.

When he walked off, I crumpled into the grass. The rain was a blissful comfort, a rhythm countering the hoof beats as Epona took off across the bridge. Link came back and started wrapping bandages around my stump of an arm, tying them tightly on the remaining muscle. As he finished, I started to doze off again.

"Maizy," he pleaded, "Say something."

My eyes caught on the golden stain on his pants, the only part of him I saw from the ground. Everything went black for a moment, coming back in a flicker. I sluggishly remembered his question and meekly responded with a grunt.

Yet it seemed to be enough because he lifted me up and started off towards the bridge. "We're gonna have to jump down. The other way down was too obvious, they would've known exactly where we were going."

Creota meowed lightly.

"But Maizy, I need to ask you a question."

I craned my neck as we went under the archway, looking at his face in front of stone then dark sky. "Y-yeah?" I croaked.

"Do you know what happened to Ilia?"

Tears prodded their way through my ducts, pouring out over my cheeks. "I'm sorry, Link she-" Words choked my throat, twisted around so many little pains, so many bad memories. "She ran but she didn't make it. She, she...died."

My feet hit the stone cold brick. I held onto his gaze, willing him to stay with me through the storm that raged on around us. He wouldn't respond.

"Link."

His eyes shut for a moment, "She…" his head shook.

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry." I wiped away the tears freckling my cheeks, but they were quickly replaced.

Link watched me, wrapping his arms around my waist. With a roll of thunder and lightning, the ornate grey brick of the Bridge of Hylia and the blood splattered on his tunic flickered in and out of sight. He held me close, climbing up onto the wall and setting me straight beside him. I could barely get up, still woozy on panic and blood loss, all my weight hinging on him. The tears didn't help and neither did the excruciating pain all up my bicep and shoulder.

Together we stood up and stared down at Lake Hylia below, water the color of tar. Small dark islands scattered the edges, far off beach sands leading to grass and then to desert. I held up Creota to Link, whispering to put her in his pouch which he did skeptically. With my one hand free, I felt the stump at my shoulder and held back another influx of tears.

Link had me tightly in his embrace now and although I wanted to feel comfort, the wrinkles on his face made my heart drop and my lungs falter. It was all my fault. "Where did my arm go?" I sobbed.

His gentle sobriety felt as though it stroked my hair, soft and soundless. "All I saw was a lightning strike, I think Destrian got you."

"What am I gonna do?" I drowned in his damp scent, "I can't do anything, how am I supposed to fight like this? How am I supposed to get back home? I can't-I didn't-"

"I'll get you home, I'll help you, you don't have to cry."

I bit back the tears, "I'm not crying."

"Maizy, don't do this."

I didn't want to be wet anymore, I wanted to be home and warm and dry. Oddly enough, that wasn't possible then. It just wasn't. And so I cried. "If I had never tagged along...Ilia would still be here, you wouldn't be hurt, Destrian wouldn't have been a problem, you could've just gone straight to the water temple."

Link let go of me, wiping away water that I thought was rain from his face, "Don't you remember the first day I met you? I would be dead if you weren't here." A strained smile curled his lips, "I trust you, don't you trust me?"

Sniffling, I hugged him tighter, "Of course I do."

"It'll be okay," he held me again, threading fingers through my wet hair and squeezing me. For a moment, I found the same words on my lips to say back at him, but my nerves were too fried to find the momentum to utter them, and instead we stood there in sweet silence in each other's arms. Suddenly, we were tipping. My feet were slipping, trying to find his but they were already off the bridge.

"Link, what the heck!"

Air rushed by, throwing my hair up behind me. Link didn't respond, merely reached for my face and pinched my nose. Before I could wiggle free, the water rushed over us and turned the world black.

I held my breath, clamping my eyes shut until we broke the surface and he swam us over to a close ledge. The ledge was made of blue stone, nearly black in the night. Ahead a cave opening allowed a peak into a large spring. Link helped me out of the water and lead me inside, walking passed what was visible from the entrance to a lowered piece of earth near enough to the water's edge that you could sit there and get your ankles wet.

He searched through his pouch and pulled out a blanket, wrapping it around my shoulders, "Go to sleep, you'll feel better by morning."

"But what about you? Aren't you tired?"

Link shook his head, pulling Creota out, "I need to think." The blanket fell off my left shoulder, swinging back and slipping off the other into the grass. I leaned down to pick it up, but he stopped me, "Before you sleep, let me look at your arm again in the light."

Lantern light filled the gap between us. His fingers weren't as gentle as I would've hoped, winces between "Stay still," warnings made the replacing of bandages more tedious than necessary. The blood on his fingers was shiny, an orange tinge visible even despite the lantern. After washing his hands and Creota's head in the spring water, he sat back down next to me, leaning into the rocky wall. We stared up into the bit of sky shown at the top of the cave, gazing at lightning strikes a jumping with the crash of thunder.

I leaned into him, at first only to be there for a moment, but when his arm wrapped around my waist, my eyes began to open and close against my will. His heartbeat and breathing became a wonderful lullaby that drawled me to sleep. Creota curled up at my feet, her wet little forehead snuggled between my achilles and opposing ankle. The last thing I remember was the blanket being draped over me before his heart faded behind the roar of dreams.

* * *

Morning came with a wash of sunlight, apologizing for the raging storm last night. The earth smelled damp under my nose as I stirred awake. Creota's cookie dough fur blocked my view but from what I could see, Link wasn't there save for his boots at the waterside. Sitting up, I reached for my stump, unraveling the bloodied bandages from where they clung. My skin was patched over and smooth.

 _Hey._

I rubbed my eye, yawning, "Good morning, Vox."

 _How are you doing?_

"I want to die."

 _Oh, well don't do that,_ he paused, _Listen, I'm really sorry I couldn't help you._

Shaking my head, I slid the blanket from my shoulders and scooped up Creota from the ground. "It's fine," I whispered, "You did what you could." Outside, the sunshine greeted me with bright kisses to the cheeks. Warmth filled my sore conscious and dried my hair.

 _It's really difficult to get the bond right, but I think I might almost be done something new. Once your magic was replenished enough I worked on it when you were asleep._

I simply nodded, falling against the cave entrance as I gazed out onto Lake Hylia which shimmered with small glints of the sun's image. To the right a wooden bridge lead to a raised island, feet off the water. At the edge of it I spotted Link, shirtless and leaned over something in his lap. Tracing my way over to him, I stopped over his shoulder and quickly marveled.

"You're sewing?"

He pulled the needle up, stopping somberly to look at me, "What else am I supposed to do?" His tunic was nearly done being stitched, neat and clean as it was, not a blood stain in sight.

"Nothing, I just...where did the blood stains go?" I sat down beside him, plopping Creota into my lap. Link gave the kitten a sideways glance before returning his attention to the green thread.

"Spring water dissolves blood. It's also known to have healing properties."

The scar on his side was bold and dark against the rest of his skin. Although his face had somewhat tanned, his body remained pale from wearing only his tunic. I pat Creota tenderly, breathing slowly as she started to purr loudly. "So um…where did you learn to sew?"

Link crossed his legs, shifting the fabric in his fingers, "Well when my mom was sent away, there was no one else at home. I was so used to rough housing and rolling around all the time that when I walked into the town one day with holes all over my clothes, my aunt sort of, taught me how to sew among other things."

"How old were you?"

"Eleven," he shrugged, "I didn't mind living alone it's just. I always hoped my dad would show up again to take care of me, but now I'm practically a man and he's still nowhere to be seen." His fingers paused on a stitch, hovering as if they had found more to do but didn't know how to do it. As he continued I looked away.

Creota perked up, sliding off of my thighs and strolling over to Link. She pawed at his legs until he wrapped a hand around her belly and lifted her to his shoulder. For a moment, his muscles tensed at her tiny claws until she settled down and fell asleep in the nook of his neck. I allowed a serene smile to creep up my cheeks before slipping back to neutrality. "You had a deadbeat dad?"

Judging by the confusion in his eyes, I didn't press him when he answered wrong, "I don't know, he's probably still alive somewhere." The last stitch looped through and he tied it off.

I swung my feet back and forth, thinking through the day I stumbled into Hyrule, "I hope my family thinks the same for me. Hell knows my mom would be devastated if her baby girl never came home. My brothers are probably going nazi on any of the boys I've ever interracted with." Sighing, I shook my head, "As if they'd be doing anything but planning my funeral...I miss my cats..."

 _Hey, don't mean to interrupt, but I need to be able to talk to you even when he's around, now's a good time to mention me._

"So," Link interjected, "Where'd this cat come from?"

 _Perfect, see?_

I booped her nose and sighed, "It's a long story...but uh. On my way to Zora's Domain I found her and along with that I found uh…Vox."

Link narrowed his eyes, "Who's 'her?'"

Huffing, I corrected him, "The cat is a girl, her name is Creota. Vox is the Vinderendetta who possessed me. He's been talking to me through my thoughts."

He nodded slowly, "Right, okay then. Do you want me to sew your shirt too?"

"Eh...Link, I'm not joking." I pleaded.

Leaning back on his palms, he pat Creota on her head, "I mean. Alright, I'm sorry, I'll believe you, but if he tries to mislead you from me, stop listening to him. Now," he grabbed the holes in the two layers of my clothes, "just hold still for a bit and we can get moving. Ralis should be at Telma's. If we can get him to Kakariko quickly enough Rutela will give us what we need to get the next Fused Shadow and we'll be on our way."

It was business as usual for him. He didn't talk much as he sewed and if he did it was logistics. Either way, I refrained from trying to force it in and let him think to himself. Midna eventually popped out, yawning and prodding at him. I could tell he was agitated, especially when he accidentally stuck me with his needle and drew a small drop of golden blood.

The volley of sorry's was enough and Midna left us to silence. When Link finished up, he threw his sewn clothes on, leaving Creota to me while he ran to get his boots. His immediate lack of vulnerability was like walking into an invisible wall in a video game, tricked that way by the promise of so much more.

Still, when he came back from the spring I couldn't help but see the little boy in his eyes. His resolve made sense, of course, I had let his childhood friend die, but it didn't lessen the blow of walking into that wall.

If anything it made it worse.


	10. Found

**It's been too long. Writer's block, marching band, and the start of school. At the same time I could have figured out how to get myself to write this out but I don't try to force myself. School is in high gear and I really do have a busy schedule this time around. I won't go into details but don't be surprised if I go on a hiatus again. Thank you so so much for reading. This story really is close to my heart.**

 **Thank you again to my beta reader.**

 **And enjoy!**

* * *

"If we go straight through the beach we can get there faster."

"Midna, we left Epona up on the bridge, remember?"

The imp crossed her arms, "I know, but I don't want to get shot out of a canon!"

Link rolled his eyes and shoved a gauntlet over his hand, covering up the Triforce birthmark he bore. We were behind a rise of land, stealing glances back toward the large canon in the middle of the lake. Passed it, a beach reached out into the fields of Hyrule. The two companions had been bickering for awhile, stretching the morning hours into afternoon.

 _These people certainly aren't ones for compromising, huh?_

I sighed and rolled my eyes, turning my head to Creota who was perched on my shoulder. She meowed and I frowned, flicking back to the argument that was getting progressively intense. "Hey, guys?"

"What?!" Midna and Link snapped in unison.

Grimacing, I stuttered, "Uh...C-can we just get a move on already?"

Midna went to start again but I cut her off.

"If everything is finally like I remember, Link needs Epona, so please, let it go."

"Fine," she scowled and slipped back into shadow.

We took the floating wooden platforms to the canon. Along the way my foot caught between logs and I stumbled into Link. He spun and caught me before I fell, but my foot still skimmed water. At first the shock threw me into a blur, his face creeping into clarity, red flooding his pale cheeks. Suddenly the claws gripping my shirt were urgent and I tore away onto the next platform to prod the kitten from my shoulder to my hand.

The bright pink of his face faded and he leapt ahead again to the canon. Its multicolored roof reached into the sky, in front of the opening stood a hunched over man whose bottom lip hung out. He had a beer belly, emphasized by a horrid hot pink crop top.

I tried to avert my eyes, but when Link called for his attention and he began speaking in a squeaky voice, I couldn't take my eyes off his dark circles and sunken skin. If I didn't know any better from the game, I would've assumed he was having a stroke by how lopsided his face was.

"One hundred rupees?!" Link crossed his arms, "I'm not looking for a thrill, I just want to get up there."

The man let out a high pitched chuckle, "You must be the two that jumped last night," he shook his head, stuffing his hands into his baggy pockets. "Look, if you're wanting for the cheap way out, why don't you take the afternoon and climb up there for free."

"Link, I think we should just-"

"I'm not taking the long way and I'm not going to pay full price. Fifty rupees." Link reached into his pouch and drew out a small purple rupee, a gem the size of my thumb.

 _No way is that gonna work._

The man rolled his eyes, "Fine, we barely get any business anymore anyway." He moved aside to an odd box, decorated with various colors and odd creatures. Putting his weight into a lever at the side he spun it until the hatch of the canon popped open.

 _What?!_

Inside it was musky and wet. I scrunched up my nose, shaking off a headache creeping into my skull. Link and I held onto each other tightly, Creota safely in his hand. The hatch shut, pitching us into complete darkness. Trying to brace for impact ended up being futile, the force of getting launched erupting a scream out of my lungs. Before I could regain any grasp on my position, we were a mess of limbs stumbling onto a wood platform and into a pile of hay.

An arm slid out from underneath my back and as I rolled over I found Link picking out straw from his hair. I sat up, desperately trying to do double the work dusting myself off with one hand. When I was looking away something tugged at my scalp and I flinched backwards. Pinched between two fingers a piece of hay sprouted out of a gloved hand.

I stood up and untangled the rest myself, trying to move my face out of his line of sight. My heart thumped in my chest, racing with my lungs to see who could accelerate faster. Why was I so anxious? Link got up beside me and my breath stopped.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, let's go."

Link handed me Creota who was covered in little bits of hay. I guided her to my shoulder and sighed, turning to a building two stories tall. One corridor lead straight through to the bridge but as we passed through, a room of chickens clucked and cooed at us. A man, sat on a stool in the corner, slept soundlessly. Crouching down, I went to pat one on its wings only for it to shriek and run away.

When I got up, Link was already headed out and I ran after him. Before I could get all the way out, a whistle and the clip of hooves echoed. I stepped through to see him mounting Epona. It was even more difficult to climb onto the mare's saddle than the first time, although Link tried his best to hold my weight. After a few failed attempts, throwing my one arm around all over the place, I finally found the right hold and pulled up. He didn't waste anymore time than I did and urged the horse southward down the bridge.

In the sunlight, the light grey stone looked like a mattress underneath us. Out, below, a world like dreams surrounding this bed. The water shimmered in the morning glare, but before I could breathe in its full beauty; we went below the bridge's grand colossal arch, and the lake disappeared from view.

I held onto Link's torso tightly, basking in the silence between us, scared that if I loosened my grip I would fall and be forgotten.

 _I finished it. Tonight, when you're alone I can give it to you._

"What is it?" I asked softly.

Link cast a look at me, meeting my eyes briefly before tearing away as we banked a turn.

"Sorry..."

 _A necklace, the rest is a surprise._

"You have time to explain it to me now," I grumbled.

 _Maybe but it'd be easier without lover boy over here listening in._

"Hey, Maizy, can you be quiet for a bit?" Link slowed Epona, trotting through an underpass of rock.

 _Oh rude, I take back lover boy._

My arm loosened and I muttered back, "Yeah, sorry," as a grouping of trees shaded us from the sun. Sighing, I resigned myself to counting animals and listening to Vox's comments. When the trees broke, the castle appeared over the horizon accompanied by a smell of smoke on the air. Dark plumes reached up passed the walls.

We slowed to a stop in front of the same bridge we'd left from last night. The guards cautiously let us through at the gate and we stumbled into the streets. Houses lined down the street, black and oozing ash that piled in the road. "What happened here?" I muttered.

Link swung left and I clambered after him, "It was probably that lightning you summoned. It started a fire."

I glanced back into the crowd of bystanders, some gazing up at the smoke, others rushing by. Faces flickered in and out like embers flashing and cooling. Destrian's eyes seemed to appear above unfamiliar cheeks in every corner. My feet floated closely behind Link's, dancing along the line between falling into him and running.

We came up to the bar, slipping in passed a distressed woman and being enveloped by the sounds of shouting and smells of sweat. A young man was behind the counter, yelling to person after person that there were no more rooms available. "Try down the street."

"Down the street is full!" Men cried.

At the end of the bar a white haired girl slept with a bottle of beer still clutched in her grasp. She didn't stir much as an ornately dressed man bumped into her.

Link planted himself at the side of the bar, setting his palms against the counter. The young man turned his head to him, eyes wide. They exchanged a few words I couldn't hear from where I stood and then the young man disappeared through a back door. When he came out, he gestured to us with a wave, Link passing on the message to me with an ushering hand.

Passing through the bar counter to the back, we entered a small room with shelves full of food and alcohol. Sitting at a table writing on a piece of paper by the light streaming in through the window was Telma, eyebrows drawn. She looked up sharply and ran to us, throwing her arms around our shoulders.

"You're alive, thank the goddesses," she squeezed us tighter, burying us in her strong scent of old perfume. Backing way, she held us at arms length, "By the goddesses you're alive. But where's...oh what did you say her name was?"

"Ilia?" Link croaked.

Telma nodded warily, "Yes, is she okay?"

Link opened his mouth to speak, but nothing slipped from their lips. He averted his eyes, clenching his jaw until he finally looked back and spoke slowly, "She...she didn't make it…"

Her face fell, "Oh...oh, darling I'm so sorry."

The room quieted except for Link, "I'm not here to see another person die. The Zora boy, Ralis, you told me you would have something set up by today."

She nodded, "Yes, we have to stop by for the wagon and then we can leave. I talked to a young woman earlier who also agreed to help so we'll be ready when you are."

"I'm ready, let's go before we lose him."

Telma smirked and lead us to the counter where the crowd still stood, different faces mixed in. "We have one free room, the highest bidder gets it!"

A flurry of hungry fingers clambered at their wallets, counting rupees then shouting how much they would offer. Telma winked at the counter boy and reached out to tap on the white haired girl's shoulder, startling her awake. The girl rubbed her head then found our faces all staring back at her.

"This is Salato, daughter of the local fortune teller. She's been traveling around recently and knows how to use a sword." Telma took away the glass of beer in her hand and nodded to Link and I, "We're about to head out so I suggest you sober up."

Salato's brown eyes scanned us over.

 _My daughter had snowy hair like hers._

They caught on me for a moment, sticking on the small kitten perched at my shoulder then gliding across my neck and a chill ran down my spine. I shivered, drawing a glance from Link. The discomfort didn't get much attention, however, as we all parted for separate tasks. Salato and Telma went to fetch the coachman and wagon while Link and I took to Ralis, picking him up from the bed he'd lied in. I opened the door for him but stopped as I heard a small sniffle.

"Link?"

He slid passed into the hallway, "What?"

"Are you okay?" His expression was stoic. I almost retracted my question before he responded saying that he was fine and I shouldn't worry about him. Something in his words curled my fingers into fists, but I brushed it off as we headed for the East Gate.

The attention that had passed me by on the street came crashing back on our walk there. First their eyes would run over the Zora, then jump to me and widen at the air where my arm was supposed to be. I hugged Link's right side, hiding it behind him, but nonetheless they watched.

We pushed through the East Gate and into the field where Telma sat waiting in front of a wagon, Salato on horseback a few paces away from her. Link turned to me, "Hey, why don't you ride in the wagon? It'll be easier for both of us." I looked from person to person, then reluctantly nodded and watched him hand off Ralis.

Telma crawled into the wagon and laid the Zora down on the front seat, getting the rest of the way after him. The clip of hooves grew louder until Link was next to me atop Epona. He looked down at me, "You good?"

"I'm fine."

I left him and climbed into the wagon, sitting at the back and trying to brush off Telma's eyes that followed me. A pungent smell of fish clashed with her perfume.

"We good to go?" Link shouted.

Telma gave a thumbs up and the wheels began turning underneath us, shaking with every divot in the earth. Curtains on either side parted to reveal Link and Salato trotting slowly. The girl rode a dark brown horse that matched her eyes, a warm brown I wanted to wrap myself in.

But Epona looked gorgeous in the sun I came to realize. Her white mane draped gracefully to one side that shifted with every turn. But the more I watched, the more I couldn't take my eyes off Link. Every arrow loosed passed trees I found myself counting, every glance back at us. My blood froze at the thought of the loss of his smile but I couldn't help letting it bubble and boil tracing his figure along the horizon.

"What happened to your arm?"

I straightened and tore my gaze away, "Oh, uh…" shaking my head, I pat the cat in my lap, "Destrian uh. We found him and uh...I guess it didn't turn out like we wanted."

She reached over and laid a hand on my arm, "I heard bits and pieces about that dragon thing. You must have been terrified, it's okay."

"I'm fine…"

Sitting back, she sighed, "It's been so bleak recently. All of these monsters roaming the fields, less people have been traveling. I haven't heard a single thing about Ordon in at least a year." Her gaze looked back out the window and caught on Link who struck another bokoblin with an arrow, then she smiled somberly, "You seem to be pretty friendly with Link."

I suddenly found myself restless and shifted in my seat, "He hates me."

A laugh cut through the air between us and drew Link and Salato's eyes. She gave them a wave and shut the curtain on Link's side. "You worry him too much if anything."

"He doesn't like talking to me."

"Men hate talking about their feelings. Just talk about something else," Telma shrugged, "But what do I know? I still can't find a man."

I pulled back the curtain and sighed, catching a glimpse of Link wiping sweat from his brow. He looked my way and I shut it, pulling back flustered. Her smirk told me everything, that my face was hot because I was blushing not because the wagon was stuffy. As the wheels turned on, I thought about him more than I thought I cared enough to.

A few moments later Telma spoke up again, "I was just joking with you, if you don't like him that's quite alright."

My younger years spent glowering at the hero stumbled back in like a lost child. I'd gotten over those little crushes long ago because I knew he wasn't real. Perhaps it hadn't hit me that this was Link, the one I had known for so long behind a screen. Maybe it was better that way. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead as I recounted every little look he gave me and found that I cherished them.

"I don't know," I whispered.

She smiled lightly and smoothed out Ralis' forehead, "Take it slow."

The sky turned from bright blue to orange, filtering onto the floor through the curtains. We stopped for a break halfway there, taking wary sips of water while eyeing each other carefully.

As we continued, a silence draped over us like a blanket. Creota slept in my lap, a little purr rumbling from her belly. As the town came into view I let out a sigh, curling my fingers around the curtain and lifting it back.

Epona galloped close, avoiding a cliff side then swinging back out. As the run down houses peeked through rock, the wagon slowed to a crawl. When the wheels stopped, Telma jumped out and carried Ralis quickly to the pueblo building. I climbed out beside Link as Salato came up from behind. She pushed herself between us, sheathing her bloody sword.

"So how was it?" I pat Epona's nose, admiring silently the depth of her eyes.

Salato responded, "Easy enough," she dusted off her pants, "I didn't help much though. Link's aim is spot on."

Link shrugged, "It's fine."

I twisted my lips at his lackluster response, holding back concern. "Link I need to talk to you."

"Yeah, what?"

"Alone," I pleaded.

Salato raised her brow.

"We need to check in with Renado and Telma first." Link insisted then lead Epona off into town. Salato rolled her eyes and left for the building, leaving me alone and flustered. I glanced back at the coachman frowning, then ran off to Link.

He was tying off the horse's reins to the inn fence when I walked up to him. Hesitantly, I curled my toes around the rocks at my feet and tapped his shoulder. As he turned, my heart leapt.

"I told you-"

"I know," I stopped him, "We just, we need to talk about what happened yesterday. Like, so we can understand each other and-"

"I know, I know…"

"So-"

"Mm?"

Everything that happened while he laid unconscious on that bed caught in my throat, a chunk of food in my windpipe. I cleared it with a quivering breath then continued, "You were badly hurt and there was no other way to save you…" Staring down, I paused, but the memory of Vox's words filled my head like a battle cry.

 _Look up Maizy, look up_!

I met Link's eyes, "We're connected by my blood. I was panicking and I didn't know what to do and Vox said he knew something so I just did it. Now everytime I use my magic it hurts you. You were dying, I'm sorry, I just...I mean what would I...what would I do without you?"

A light breeze rolled tumbleweeds across the dirt, rustling shrubbery and shaking a broken wind chime. My hair flicked into my mouth but I didn't wipe it away. He sighed, touching the stitches in his tunic where his scar lied underneath, "It's okay. Maizy, it's okay."

"It's not okay, I let Ilia die for nothing."

"It wasn't your fault," his eyebrows drew together, "That Vinderendetta was too much for us."

I shook my head, tears falling down my cheeks, "No, she didn't want to fight. Once she recognized Vox through my magic she stopped attacking. Don't blame her, please, she was being forced to."

Link crossed his arms, "Okay, then someone else was behind it, maybe someone's controlling them, probably Zant, either way, it wasn't your fault, Maizy, it wasn't."

"But I watched and I did nothing, if I had done something sooner then maybe she would've noticed. Ilia wouldn't have died, I-"

"Stop it!" he snapped, "Stop saying her name," his eyes welled up with tears and he desperately tried to wipe them away, "I can't blame you for what happened, so please just stop."

"Why not?"

"Because!" he threw up his hands, "because...I don't want to be mad at you. I'm not going to make the same mistake twice, I'm not letting you go. Ilia's in a better place now where she remembers everything, and that's all I could ask for right now. I'm trying to make sense of all of this so please stop."

I stared down at our feet again, mesmerized by the proximity of our toes, so close together. Link placed his hands on my shoulders.

"Maize, look at me." His eyes were soft, a blue from a summer day. Then, a smile bloomed from his lips, pained, but beautiful, "I learned the hard way that if you get caught up on all the negatives, you'll never make it very far. Back when I was in the Forest Temple, I almost gave up, but Midna reminded me that if I didn't keep going, no one would smile again. I held onto that, whether she knew it or not she does now."

Tears flooded my eyes, pouring over in waterfalls. I tried to wipe them away, but more came to replace them. A pair of arms wrapped around me, squishing me into his chest. Creota crawled from my shoulder to his, headbutting our necks. Link smelled like sweat, but his warmth melted my anxiety and finally, my muscles relaxed.

I backed up but he held me still at arms length, one hand on my shoulder, the other on my stump. Frowning, he let go, "I have to go tell the kids. Do you want to come?"

"No...no I shouldn't be there. Besides, Vox needs to talk to me."

Link nodded slowly, then, lifting up the kitten from his shoulder, he handed her to me. My breath shuddered as I watched him go down the dirt street, hair ruffling in the breeze.

 _You feeling better?_

"Yeah."

 _Alright, head into the inn, I have it ready._

Epona snorted beside me and I gave her a pat before heading inside. The moment I shut the door behind me, a blinding blue light sparked in the middle of the room.

 _It's called a leiyn, every Vinderendetta gets one when they turn twenty. We use it to store magic, thus we can use more magic at once if we choose to. If you do this, it won't disrupt the fragments of your blood still in Link's body. Just charge it slowly._

The light concentrated into a small sapphire crystal that pulsated like a star. A golden chain flicked out of it gently as it began to lower to the ground. I ran and clamped my fingers over it.

 _Shrunk down to human size. That's what took the most effort. Along with having to sculpt the chain which I molded from your blood._

Reeling slightly, I unhooked the clasp and connected it behind my neck, letting it dangle. It fell down just above my chest, still glowing, but fading the longer I let it sit. Celincia's image filled my head suddenly, and I bit my lip, "So, all of this is a translation?"

 _Yes, it's when we take over another living body. At the start we translate much of the basics which are linked to our own soul. You can go as far as controlling the other's, but you can also stop at any time by finishing the bond between the two. The longer you take, the more the other soul gets used to the Vinderendetta and figures out how to control it. That helps the bond for us, but probably not for Zant._

"Zant is making them translate?"

 _Oh I don't know, but if he did he would need them to get as much done as fast as they could and he can't control what they do once they're in the body. But if the monster can control the magic, then it doesn't matter what the Vinderendetta thinks, they can't do anything anymore._

I held the leiyn in my palm, focusing a small stream of energy from my chest to the crystal. It glew, shooting out beams between my fingers. Creota jumped down from my shoulder and stretched, yawning.

 _And you can keep her in there from now on. Creota houses the soul of my daughter. She died when the other Vinderendetta found me and killed everything I had. My brother had left for your world with the others. The real reason I stayed was well, I had a wife and a child. They didn't know about us, just that I was gone._

"I'm sorry."

He paused, then continued, _It's alright._

The door swung open behind me and Renado walked through with Ralis in his arms. As he moved aside, Link came into sight holding open the door.

"If you had wasted anymore time then I'm afraid I might not have been able to save him, but he'll be okay." Renado stopped to bow slightly to Link then headed up the stairs.

I let go of my Leiyn and felt a solemn smile grow on my lips. Link let go of the door and came up to me. "They didn't take it very well," he crossed his arms, "You wouldn't mind if I spent the night with them, right?"

Creota made loops around his leg and he picked her up, patting her head. I sighed, "No, of course not. I'll see you in the morning?"

"The sun only just went down, there's still dinner and-"

"Well wouldn't Midna want some time out of your shadow?" I muttered, "I understand, Link, but...They need you, without me, they need to feel like they're home."

Slowly, he began nodding, then closed the gap between us as he grabbed my leiyn in his fingertips. A scowl overtook him, "What's this?"

"I'll explain tomorrow when we're out on the road, just go."

He released it, "I'll bring you some dinner."

I nodded and he slipped into the road. Hesitantly, I opened the door to the porch. Telma stood outside leaning against the wall. As she noticed me, she smiled, "Looks like everything turned out fine."

"Mhm…"

A cool breeze chilled the evening air, the heat of day nothing but a lost memory. She sighed, "Those poor kids though. Almost made me cry with them."

"Are you going to head back tonight?"

She shook her head, "We paid the coachman for a one day stop, then morning ride back. Besides, I need to talk to Renado."

"I'm sure he'll be out soon."

"You stay safe, Maizy. Link needs you." She winked and pushed herself off of the wall, jogging off to the cement building.

A few stars poked out of the night sky, twinkling like little crystals. I held mine up to them, illuminating it against their glow. A million whispers came back to me, filling my ears with pleadings of hope.


	11. Sunken

**Hi, I know it's been awhile. Senior year is pretty much just as busy as I thought it would be. In fact, I finished editing this like, two days ago? And I didn't even find the time to post it after I decided it was too late to post the first night. But it's here so woooo.**

 **Thank you to my beta reader, especially for bearing with me about the recent timing of updates. Also thank you guys for being patient! I don't want to go on for too long so just**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

The bed creaked under my weight. Across the room, Midna lifted back the tattered curtains, gazing out at the sky. I adjusted the lamp on the table and lied back against my pillow, shutting my eyes.

Minutes ticked by aimlessly. After what seemed like two hours, a knock clacked on the door, raising me from a loose sleep. Link called from the other side, yelling about dinner. As I opened it for him, he slipped in and shut it.

He wasted no time with formalities, "I'll wake you up tomorrow and we'll head for the Lakebed Temple."

"Did Queen Rutel-"

"Zant's probably already been there, we need to hurry." Midna asserted.

Link waved her off somewhat, "Yes, I know."

"Li-"

"And no, I haven't heard from her. Should I have?"

My tongue stuttered for a moment, caught up in my mouth from being disrupted, "By the end of the night, she should try to talk to you."

"Okay, okay, I gotta go." Link set the food down on a table and jogged to the door.

"Bright and early tomorrow!" Midna waved.

He smirked and skidded into the hallway. His voice mingled with Renados' as his footsteps faded and my heart steadied itself. A small meow prodded from the silence. I lifted Creota up and sat back down on the bed, picking at the bland food on the plate.

 _You should be charging it while you aren't distracted._

"Vox…" I groaned, setting my fork down.

 _Okay, hurt Link, it's obviously not a problem for you._

Sucking in a breath, I gripped the Leiyn and focused my energy. The light of the gem fought with the glow of the lamp, a deep blue against a gentle orange hue. Midna scowled at me from across the room, but turned to the wall and ignored it. Blue continued to paint the walls, coaxing her from her stupor enough to speak lightly, "His name is Vox?"

"Huh?" I stopped charging it for a moment until her question caught up to me, "Oh, yeah."

Midna shook her head, "Vinderendetta...they came in and destroyed everything I'd built. They separated all the districts from the mainland, threw out the children, turned my people into beasts." she spat, a snarl curling her darkened lips. Her composure was tight, but at her next thought, she relaxed, "It was so cold." With slumped shoulders, she drew back where shadow danced on the wall.

Crickets chirped from their hiding places outside, filling the space where no one uttered a word. Vox pulled himself from the obscurity and spoke, _Tell her that I'm sorry I didn't do anything sooner._

"You really want me to?" I rotated the Leiyn in my fingers, anxiously counting the heartbeats from the kitten in my lap.

 _Of course._

"Midna...Vox says…" her one eye drilled into me like a knife at my throat and I hitched, "He says he's sorry. That he didn't try to help."

 _I ran away instead._

"He ran away..."

Midna looked to the window, tapping her small thighs with her impish fingers. Then she sighed, "He's the only goddamn one with half a mind to resist Zant."

Without another word, she moved from the other bed and dropped into my shadow. I finished my food and took the opportunity to get an early sleep. Later in the night I awoke to clambering footsteps and the door squeaking open to the neighboring room. Colin's voice rose in earnest, then Link's soothed him into silence.

"Did you really see his mother?!" Colin piped up.

"Shh," Link pleaded.

They talked below a whisper, but it was hard not to try to listen in rather than shut my eyes again. Ilia got brought up a few times, leading to bittersweet remarks. I rolled over and placed my ear to the wood, enchanted by their dreamy speak.

"I have to leave tomorrow," Link muttered.

Colin shifted on the bed where he sat, "You'll be back soon?"

"I don't know, but I'll try. In the mean time, just stay strong." The night silence caressed my eyes, but I refused to sleep.

"You're always so strong. I wish I could be like you."

Link's muffled voice was full of pride, "You don't have to be like me. Colin, you're strong in your own way. You stand up for others. It takes something else to stand up rather than immediately fight back."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"Well, I think standing up is more defensive and fighting back is offensive."

"Link?"

"What."

"You lost me."

Their voices became muddled and at some point they were gone. When I woke up near dawn it was quiet and I thought back to their little conversation with a solemn smile on my lips. After some time a knock clacked on the door and Link entered, carrying a long cloth that he threw onto my lap.

"What's this?" I mused softly, sitting up to turn it over on the sheets. Creota sauntered up and sniffed it.

He pulled out one of his own, "I fixed it from the armour the queen gave me. Unfortunately the headpiece didn't really make it through." A golden helmet enlarged in his palm. He set it down on the table where it became evident the elongated tail had been hacked off and sewn up. Link set down the rest of the set and stood back. "Do I need to wear all of it?"

I pushed aside the covers and set my feet on the floor, "It depends, also you didn't tell me what this was." Holding up the cloth, I yawned.

"Breathing," Link offered, "Like, underwater."

"Ah, of course."

Hearing him chuckle shook my drowsiness further, but I couldn't find the same energy he had. As he picked up the helmet he asked me again, "Do I need to?"

"It'll help you navigate in the water, and there's a lot of water underwater so I would sure hope you wear it." I shrugged, "But who listens to a psychic nowadays." Creota pawed at my side and I brought her up to my shoulder.

"A lot of people," he admitted, slipping off his boots. As he undid belt buckles and scattered equipment about the room, he told me he would meet me outside the inn. My body stayed still for a moment, drowsy and fatigued, but as he started taking his tunic off, it suddenly clicked and I stood up. At the door, I glanced back, catching a glimpse of his scar before I slid down the hall with a flush.

The street was alive for once with Gorons who roamed to buildings and talked to one another with crossed arms. Their anger had diminished since we visited the mines, many of them with wide soft smiles on their faces. Link eventually came out in the armour, picking at the scales lining the torso. He wasn't wearing the helmet or flippers, stepping onto the dirt road with bare feet. The dull blue hue on the leather brought out his eyes as he got closer, but he didn't meet mine as he walked, adjusting his gauntlets.

When he stopped next to me, I noticed a lock of hair sticking up. While I still wasn't look, I reached over to smooth it out but before I could get close, his hand shot out and gripped my wrist. "What are you doing?"

I tried to pull back, stammering, "Y-your hair is sticking up."

"Just leave it alone." He threw my arm back at me and crossed his.

"You tried to fix my hair yesterday."

Link rolled his eyes, "Fine, do whatever if it bothers you so much."

My face suddenly felt hot, "I mean I just," I huffed, "You toss me all over the place so much, I don't see why you're upset."

"I'm not upset," he laughed, "You caught me off guard."

I pointed my finger at his nose, "Well you have no sense of personal space."

"Does it bother you?"

"Huh?" my hand lowered.

"Does it bother you?" he insisted, cocking his head to the side.

I tried to see through the flurry of adrenaline running around my brain. The twinkle in his eyes as he smiled widely, ready to laugh again at whatever I said next, it sent me into a fit. Fumbling with my Leiyn, I tried to order all of my emotions together, yet, somehow, all I could focus on was him, Link.

"I don't know."

His armour turned and rustled with his movements as he started to untie Epona. Hesitantly, I reached up and smoothed out the lock of hair when he was looking away. He didn't make mention of it, merely climbed onto the mare's back and offered a hand out to me. I took it, mounting with no more ease than last time. As he gave her a kick, we kissed good bye the solemn day behind us. I held Creota to my chest, shutting my eyes until something tickled at the back of my mind. Focusing a little energy, I held her closer until my hand fell through her and all that was left was a faint glow in my Leiyn. For the first time in days I found myself physically alone with Link and I hugged him close against the heat of the day.

The little town fell behind our dust, obscured by the hills and cliffsides. Link tried to get me to talk, asking how I was, if my arm hurt. When I told him it didn't, he started on an anecdote from his childhood about a wolf who jumped and bit him in the shoulder on a forest road. He said his mother ran over and killed it before it could get him again. Just passed the treeline he said he could of sworn he saw three wolf cubs, but his mother was too quick to pick him up and run home. Sometimes he wondered if the wolves that sometimes got into town were one of the three. He stopped wanting to think about it when his uncle killed two.

"That's just war," he concluded.

That was war...the way he talked about his mom as if she was an angel made me realize what he meant and I held him tighter.

"Maybe being a wolf is a punishment," he shrugged slowly, "maybe I'll die protecting what I love too..."

I leaned into him, "What do you love?"

Link started a small noise as if he was going to talk, but he stopped. Under my fingers I could almost feel him sewing himself back up. I pushed passed my nerves and went again.

"Link?"

The needle stopped.

A sigh tumbled out of his chapped lips, "A lot of things, Maizy...a lot of things…"

He sank back and pulled the thread taught, closing up the tear in his skin.

I went on in his stead, "I love the way summer has to be introduced by spring, that it's too shy to tell winter that it's their turn. I love screwing around when school's out, pretending life begins and ends with happiness. I love coming home on summer nights to cats asking about my day and family faces telling me to go to sleep. I miss the look my mom gives me when I stay up too late playing stupid games like this dumbass one I'm stuck in. I miss watching my brothers beat the dungeons that I haven't yet, but they aren't here to do that anymore. I learned a long time ago to figure them out myself, but I didn't think…" Tears fell off my cheeks, "Nevermind, I told you too much."

My two story house towered high above me, vivid despite the bright green of the fields. A staircase lead to a door through which my childhood played out in giggles and tantrums. I'd never been bitten by a wolf, never been a cub left behind. In Link I saw teeth clenched over flesh, the last cub in the woods, grown up and not willing to let anyone hurt what he had spent so long loving.

The sun shone impossibly large in the sky, framed by clouds and an expanse of blue. We talked endlessly with each other, about the people we knew and things we did. He asked me about where I was from, and I told him it was nothing like Hyrule, that I couldn't explain it. Suddenly he recalled my necklace and inquired about it.

"Oh," I blinked, "oh, I'm sorry. It's called a Leiyn. Vox said I can store magic in. This way when I attack, you won't be hurt. Unless I get surprised."

Link stretched his arms, talking through a yawn, "As if that never happens."

"Hey!"

 _I don't mean to interject, but he's right._

"Vox, shut up."

Lake Hylia's beach came into view, its water bright with reflections of the sun. Link veered sideways to it, stopping at a stable and paying the young man who worked there. Walking back to the lake, we stood together on the beach, our feet warm in the sand.

"Why is Zant finding places to screw around in that I've never heard of?" Link held his hand up, trying to take in the size of the lake against glimmers of light.

Midna jumped out, "We may not have seen Hyrule before, but the Twili don't slouch on their history. Did you decide not to pay attention in school?"

He dropped his arm, "There's never been a school in Ordon, at least not since the mayor's wife died…" his voice hitched, but he carried right on, "Queen Rutela said the source of the dark magic was deep in the Lakebed Temple, right?"

"Right." Midna echoed.

"Then let's go."

Link pulled out the strip of cloth he'd shown me earlier. I realized then that I'd forgotten it and reached out only for him to hold it back. "Hey-"

"Turn around." he motioned.

"Why?"

His expression softened, "I'm gonna tie it for you."

It registered like a shock, "Oh." I turned, gazing out towards the desert. As he brushed my hair aside, I held the stump where my arm was but a numb memory, still vivid in my pupils. When he finished, I pulled up the cloth a bit and faced him.

Link fished out another stip and fixed it across his face. In a muffled mumble, he asked, "Anything you have to tell me before we go down?"

I shook my head, then shrugged, "Well, I guess just make sure you get some water bombs. There's a Zora who sells them down there."

Link gave me a nod then stretched his arms upward. I pressed my lips together, passively fretting over the look in his eyes as he gazed out at the water while he stretched. His expressions always felt like little mysteries waiting to be solved.

We walked chest deep into the languid waves, bumping shoulders and feet. With my arm tight across his torso, we dove under the surface. The bed was largely rock witch pools of loose sand here and there. Close to the waterfall, a trench cut deep below into shade. At the shallow end, a curling and sculpted rock poked out where ten pillars reached up like eels lining to the structure. Link and I ventured deeper, scaring fish in all directions as we went. When we came close enough, it became evident that in the stone was carved patterns of fish fins and eyes. A rock covered an opening inside the cliff.

I outstretched my arm for a moment, pointing to it. Link nodded and twisted around in the water until his eyes fell upon a Zora floating erect nearby. He swam over and made several large gestures. They started to grow bigger, but the Zora quickly put their hands up and exchanged a large bag for some rupees.

Vox interrupted my attention. _You think you can talk with those on?_

"I don't know-" I attempted. The sound of my voice projected as if I had a hand over my mouth. My face contorted and I reserved myself to silence.

Alright, nevermind.

Link came over, holding one of the ugly bombs he'd bought, a fish whose maw clamped over a black sac. Ignoring the red eye staring back at us, we continued to the entrance. I stood back as he threw the fish into the rock, counting the seconds until it finally hit. As the fish bumped into the stone, it panicked and bit down on the sac.

The explosion caused the rock to loose and crumble enough that we could push it aside. Behind, a long, dark tunnel glew with dim blue crystals that poked from the walls. As we slipped through, the bomb-fish wiggled by, then away into the lake, deflated like a pufferfish. Link looked at me for a moment then let go and searched through his pouch. Taking out the flippers, he shoved them on and we went ahead.

Further along, luminous foliage started to peek out from behind the rock like fluorescent green and red corals and bright white barnacles the size of sharks. Neon fish swam by in small schools, displaying pastel rainbows in their wake. When the tunnel went vertical, the aquatic creatures disappeared into darkness. Above the surface of the water, a bright light penetrated through. We broke up to the sights and sounds of a circular room, fire crackling and water dripping from the ceiling. Link lifted himself out onto the tiled ring around the pool then pulled me up beside him.

Ripping down our breathing cloths, we scrambled to make in the first words, stumbling into each other's sentences until I closed my lips and listened to him.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"Talking doesn't work."

"I know, I tried."

"It was beautiful down there," he marveled, laughing between pants.

I played with the edge of my makeshift skirt, smiling lightly, "I know…"

He cast his eyes to the door, then leaned back on his hands, "Let's take a break."

Midna appeared next to us, crossing her arms, but rather than complain, she sighed and laid her head into her hand. Link lied into the ground and shut his eyes, kicking his feet back and forth in the water. Left to the buzz in my head, I got up and wrang out my hair. When I looked back, he was staring up at the stalactites, cheeks glistening wet. Midna yawned and stretched, not budging from her perch. Although I enjoyed the peace, it was much too short lived.

 _We have to get going._

"Vox-" I whispered.

 _Tell them to get off their lazy asses!_


End file.
